President-elect Donald Trump has been busy all week rolling out the members of his new government. There are three names that stand out for how effective his choices are likely to be in their mission: South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem for Secretary of Homeland Security, former Chief of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Tom Homan for “border czar” and top Trump adviser Stephen Miller for deputy White House chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser.
Even if the rest of the government stumbles and clashes with each other, that may not be the case when it comes to enforcing Trump’s shady immigration plan. Miller, Homan and Noem have the potential to work together disturbingly effectively. The only limit they are likely to face is how much the public will allow to be performed in his name.
Miller, Homan and Noem have the potential to work together disturbingly effectively.
In his new dual role, Miller will take the lead general contours of US immigration policy. Homan will likely be charged with sorting out the operational details of Miller’s plans. And Noem will be tasked with implementing that policy and carrying out Trump’s promised deportation of an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants.
One of the few holdovers from the early Trump days: Miller was a speechwriter and senior adviser under Trump during his first term. By the end of Trump’s term, he would had enormous influence on immigration policy and had helped purify the ranks of civil servants he did not consider it aggressive enough in deterring border crossings. He helped shape many of the strictest immigration policies Trump implemented, including the so-called Muslim travel ban use of Title 42 to close the border completely.
His main skill has always been to capture Trump’s worst impulses about immigrants and make them almost palpable to moderate listeners. But given a title that matches his ambitions and a direct line to Trump, there will be little to stop him from being as extreme as he always hoped. Under the plans that Miller leads are mass deportation camps to hold those collected during ICE workplace investigations while they are processed for deportation and reinstatement of Title 42 at the border.
In addition to cracking down on undocumented immigrants, he has also set his sights on limiting immigration. Miller has supported a end of birthright and promised to “turbocharge” his efforts deprive naturalized citizens of their legal status. He has prepared himself for that too end parole programs for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela and Nicaragua and allows the temporary protection of protected status to expire more than 800,000 people.
While Miller shapes the plans, it will likely be Homan who coordinates their implementation. Trump has indicated he would like to see the military participate in the forced removal plans, which would require Pentagon buy-in and a likely transfer of money from defense programs to pay for the costs. an increase in the number of detention centers. There will be legal challenges that the Justice Department will have to defend against. Homan would be the person to keep everyone on the same page.
It’s worth noting that Homan’s job, as it stands, is only two words on paper at this point, as there is no “border czar” position in the federal system and no sources from which he can putt. It’s also nice to remember that he was promised, but never granted, a similar role during the first Trump administration. But Homan has the experience necessary to carry out Miller’s wishes. He was hired to lead ICE’s deportation division before eventually becoming director and implementing Trump’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy for child separation.
Immigration policy will be determined entirely from the top down, with Noem in place, passing from Miller to Homan Noem’s orders to ICE and Customs and Border Patrol to carry them out.
Meanwhile, Noem’s rise is a testament to how much all politics is now national. Leading South Dakota has given her little exposure to the immigration system. According to the Institute for Migration PolicyAs of 2022, only 3.5% of the state’s population was foreign-born, far less than in many parts of the country. But Noem has been extremely vocal about it the so-called ‘invasion’ that takes place at the southern border, enthusiastically embracing Trump’s narrative and pulling off stunts such as deploying National Guard members to the Texas-Mexico border.
She would also be the only one of the three with any legal authority to carry out these deportation plans — or the money from Congress to do so. Immigration policy will be determined entirely from the top down, with Noem appointed. It goes from Miller to Homan and Noem’s orders to ICE and Customs and Border Patrol to carry them out. It doesn’t matter if she has no policy experience herself, as long as she is willing to be a figurehead for the White House and Senate Republicans are willing to confirm her.
There are still logistical problems that would have to be overcome if Miller’s deportation plan were to become reality. Homan said this week that he would double ICE’s presence in sanctuary cities like New York if necessary, but ICE is already falling short. There is also a shortage of immigration judges, whose courts are dealing with a huge backlog of cases. But all this assumes that the government has any interest in being efficient and precise in the process of forcibly removing millions from their homes.
Let us not forget that the family separation policy was a humanitarian disaster. The conditions in which families were held were appalling, made worse only by the lack of care registration failure by the administration. DHS said in a report this year that it did still 1,360 children “without confirmed reunification” with their families. We might call it incompetent if the goal had been to humanely shelter migrants in detention or expedite their processing through the immigration system. But that wasn’t the goal. The goal was to scare other migrants into crossing the border.
Likewise, in this case, the goal is not to be efficient or accurate. Miller probably isn’t concerned about how long people have to wait in hastily built camps before being deported. There seems to be a good chance that there will be citizens who will be arrested and forced to prove that they have the right to stay in the country. Homan has proposed avoiding family separations by deporting entire familieswhich problematically suggests that American-born children would also be illegally expelled.
There is no way to ethically or humanely carry out the kind of operation Miller and his associates have in mind – and so they won’t try. In practice, it is more likely to be a deliberately brutal attack on human rights and dignity. But mass deportation does not have to be done right for Trump’s vision to become a reality. It just has to be done.