As President-elect Donald Trump seems adamant about moving ahead with his mass deportation plans, his incoming border czar Tom Homan revealed that he is looking for a country that will accept deported migrants whose native nation refuses to accept them.
According to him, the strategy is a significant component of Trump’s proposal for the “largest deportation in history.”
Tom Homan opens about finding a ‘third country’
Opening up about the upcoming government’s plans, Homan told Daily Mail, “I’m not waiting for January 20 [when Trump is inaugurated]. We are already having discussions. So we’ll find a third country.”
“Until they’ve signed an agreement, and we’ve got that, I’m not going to take any credit,” he added.
The idea to house illegal immigrants in an alternative nation has been floating around Washington, D.C. for months. The concept was somewhere influenced by the United Kingdom’s agreement with the small African nation of Rwanda to host refugees.
However, that program was stymied due to several legal challenges and ultimately dropped by the government of new PM Keir Starmer.
Which countries are willing to accept illegal migrants?
Homan refused to disclose which nations he was in discussions with. Several reports have earlier identified Turks & Caicos, the Bahamas, Panama, and Grenada as probable nations.
While the Bahamas has rejected the idea, Guatemala may give an alternative as an official said that the country is receptive to the notion, Reuters reported.
Role of Homan under Trump govt
As Trump made combating illegal immigration a central component of his reelection campaign, Homan will take over the key role in his administration.
He claimed Trump had assigned him the three major tasks: secure the border, conduct a deportation operation, and locate the 300,000 illegal children who were reported missing in the United States.
“Everything changes on January 20,” Homan told a roundtable of contributors and supporters in Naples, Florida.
He recognised that it would be difficult to immediately expand a deportation program.
According to him, $86 billion, a sum proposed by Congress, was a solid foundation for funding the beds and operational expenses required.