Trump has already chosen several loyal allies for top roles overseeing immigration and deportation policy, including Kristi Noem who has been nominated to lead the Department of Homeland Security, and former ICE chief Tom Homan who Trump has named his “border tsar”.
Trump’s team have so far released few details about how the plan will be executed.
He has previously said that he plans to declare a national emergency, which would authorise him to deploy troops on US soil.
Homan told Fox News on Monday that he will visit Trump’s Florida home this week “to put the final touches on the plan”, including deciding what role the US Department of Defense (DOD) will have.
“Can DOD assist? Because DOD can take a lot off our plate,” he said, saying that the pace of deportations will depend on the resources agencies are given.
On Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued ICE for more details on how the deportation plan will work. The group plans to continue to file legal challenges in an effort to block the mass deportation.
Under the four years of the previous Trump administration, around 1.5 million people were deported, both from the border and the US interior.
The Biden administration – which had deported about 1.1 million people up to February 2024 – is on track to match that, statistics show.
