Trump's border czar Tom Homan to bring back family detention centres amid migration crackdown

The incoming US 'border czar' Tom Homan on Thursday (Dec 26) said that he will reinstate policies that hold families in detention.

Homan, who was appointed by President-elect Donald Trump last month, said that the new detention centres will be able to hold families exiting the country.

“You knew you were in the country illegally and chose to have a child. So you put your family in that position,” Homan said in an interview with The Washington Post.

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“We’re going to need to construct family facilities,” Homan stated, adding, "How many beds we’re going to need will depend on what the data says.”

President Biden directed the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to get rid of "residential centres" that held families in 2021, along with other deportation tactics that were considered inhumane by some.

Homan, in a previous interview with CNN, estimated that 100,000 beds would be needed for mass deportation efforts.

“This will be an expense — this will be an expensive operation. But in the long run, it should be a — it would be a huge tax savings on the American people,” Homan said in the interview.

Homan will not be directly leading the agency, as he will be working along with South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R), Trump’s nominee for secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, to carry out border security efforts.

He has also planned to launch a targeted investigation into the 300,000 teenagers and children in America whose caretakers have stopped reporting to federal caseworkers.

“I think some of these children will be in forced labour, and some will be in the sex trade,” he said. “I think some will be perfectly fine. We just want to make sure.”

Last month, Homan also received death threats and said that this is something "we are going to deal with".

He further noted that his task is to deliver on Trump's promise to enact the "largest deportation operation in history". To begin that, he said he would target those that "a federal judge said you must go and they didn't".

(With inputs from agencies)