CHICAGO — Donald Trump’s choice to lead border security efforts promised a hard line on enforcement in a speech Monday to Chicago Republicans, with apparently little room for leniency even for the U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants.
Tom Homan, who has been picked to serve as “border czar” in the new administration, said the children of non-citizens would be part of the wave of deportations promised by the incoming administration.
“When you have a child, that’s on you. I’m not looking to separate families at all. That’s not my goal. My goal is to enforce the law,” Homan said. “But if you put yourself in that position, it may happen.”
His remarks showed none of the flexibility that Trump himself seemed to suggest in a weekend interview, when he said that he favored some kind of resolution for the status of people brought to the country long ago as children by illegal immigrants — so-called “dreamers.”
“We have to do something about the dreamers because these are people that have been brought here at a very young age,” Trump said in an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press with Kristen Welker.”
Homan, Trump’s former acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director offered a red meat approach to an audience that represents a small group – Republicans in a city that voted 77 percent for Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Chicago is in trouble because your mayor sucks and your governor sucks,” Homan said in reference to Gov. JB Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson.
Once the applause subsided, Homan called on Johnson and Pritzker, along with other Democrats who favor shielding migrants in “sanctuary” cities and states, to work with immigration enforcement authorities like Mayor Eric Adams has done in New York.
Pritzker has pushed back at the promised wave of mass deportations that Trump has said would be a feature of his second administration. “You come for my people, you come through me,” the governor said recently.
Homan said he would “welcome” Illinois Democratic leaders to “come to the table,” on enforcement. “Help us protect you,” he said. “Please. But if you don’t, get the hell out of the way.”
“We’re gonna get some results,” he said. “We’re gonna be arresting a hell of a lot more people.”
As he left the event, Homan told POLITICO he had not reached out to the governor or mayor and that they should call him. “They need to reach out to me. Just like the mayor of New York reached out.”
Chicago Alderman Nicholas Sposato, one of less than a handful of Trump supporters on the 50-member City Council, said he liked what he heard from Homan and doesn’t think Illinois or Chicago’s sanctuary status needs to prevent ICE from doing its work.
“It means law enforcement just has to stay out of the way,” Sposato said.
