The Voice of America (VOA) reports that U.S. President Donald Trump’s “border czar” said on February 16 that he is “not happy” with the number of undocumented migrants being arrested by immigration agents and deported to their home countries.
Tom Homan reportedly told CNN’s “State of the Union” show that 14,000 migrants had been arrested since Trump was inaugurated January 20, but said, “We’ve got to do a lot more.”
Many of those arrested have been flown back to their native lands or sent to the prison on the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, while some have been released to live in the United States pending court proceedings.
The U.S. estimates that 11 million undocumented migrants are living in the U.S., with Trump pledging during his 2024 run for the presidency to find and deport “millions” of them. Officials say that the first arrests have targeted migrants convicted of crimes in the U.S. but that anyone living in the country without proper immigration documentation could be targeted.
Homan said the number being deported is “a lot higher” than under the former administration of President Joe Biden, but added, “We’ve got to get the targeting and production up. It’s hard work.”
The Trump administration has tapped law enforcement personnel from several U.S. agencies to augment those at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, which normally controls migration issues.
In the first days of the Trump administration, there were hundreds of migrant arrests daily and there still are, but just not as many.
The Department of Homeland Security reported about 800 arrests a day in late January, topping out at 1,179 on Jan. 26. The figure was fewer than 600 a day in the first two weeks of February.
The Trump administration had set a goal of 1,200 to 1,500 arrests a day.
