Trump tees up aggressive immigration push in first hours of administration

Washington (CNN) — Donald Trump’s team is finalizing an aggressive slate of immigration executive orders that are expected to be released only hours after the president-elect is sworn in, kicking off an immigration crackdown that will have implications for people nationwide, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.

The package of actions amounts to a dramatic shift in immigration policy that will affect immigrants already residing in the United States and migrants seeking asylum at the US-Mexico border.

The planning includes US Immigration and Customs Enforcement sweeps in major metropolitan areas, sending more Pentagon resources to the US southern border, placing additional restrictions on who is eligible to enter the US, along with rolling back Biden-era policies.

“You’ll see removal planes, reports of arrests occurring, ICE action in sanctuary jurisdictions,” one source told CNN, referring to the incoming administration’s deportation plans. “As you get into 30 days and first 100 days, that’s where you’ll see a consistent drumbeat.”

Sources maintain that the incoming administration will, at least initially, be focused on undocumented immigrants with criminal backgrounds who are eligible for removal in major metropolitan areas, like Washington, DC, Denver, and Chicago. But others who are encountered over the course of those operations could also be taken into custody, according to a source.

The main players on Trump’s key agenda item include South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, whose confirmation hearing is slated for Friday, as homeland security secretary, Tom Homan as border czar and Stephen Miller, incoming deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser.

“You cannot be a safe or secure country until the border is protected and defended,” Miller said on Fox Thursday, stating that all relevant federal agencies “will be given the assignment and the mission to interdict all contraband, to use all financial resources to strangle the cartels, and to end all illegal immigration into this country as a top national security.”

Trump will be inheriting a relatively quiet US southern border, but his team is teeing up actions to double down on border security and roll out policies that would overhaul the US immigration system.

The authorities that Trump is expected to invoke upon taking office are familiar and a call back to his first term, while other unprecedented actions remain under consideration. Trump’s team, for example, continues to assess multiple options to end birthright citizenship, and is reviewing the applicability of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.

Early actions include a national emergency declaration to surge additional Pentagon resources to the US southern border, issuing a proclamation to suspend the entry of certain people at the US southern border and putting in place a travel ban. Discussions are ongoing on who the travel ban will include, according to a source, who said it’s expected to emulate the prior iteration and be rooted in vetting concerns.

The Trump team also plans to do away with a humanitarian parole program designed to provide a legal pathway to the US for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans – potentially placing hundreds of thousands of recent migrant arrivals who are currently able to temporarily work and live in the US in limbo.

“President Trump was given a mandate by the American people to stop the invasion of illegal immigrants, secure the border, and deport dangerous criminals and terrorists that make our communities less safe. He will deliver,” said Karoline Leavitt, Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman, in a statement.

Interior enforcement at the forefront

This time, Trump officials are hyper focused on interior enforcement – placing a spotlight on immigration raids in Democratic-led cities, according to multiple sources.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement – the immigration enforcement arm under the Department of Homeland Security – has been arresting and removing immigrants under the Biden administration. In the last fiscal year, the agency deported 271,484 immigrants, marking the highest level of deportations since 2014, according to federal data.

Multiple sources who spoke to CNN caution that plans to ramp up ICE operations will take time to execute and hinge on additional funding from Congress.

One of the key targets for the incoming administration are so-called sanctuary cities. The term is broadly applied to jurisdictions that have policies in place designed to limit cooperation with or involvement in federal immigration enforcement actions. How such policies are enforced can vary.

Homan has repeatedly criticized those cities, arguing that they hamper ICE’s ability to arrest threats to the community. Homan has maintained that his priority remains public safety and national security threats.

“I’ll send a whole bunch of agents into your community, and we’ll find the bad guy, and when we find the bad guy, he’s probably going to be with others, others that aren’t a priority apprehension. But guess what? They’re getting arrested too. So, you’ll get exactly what you don’t want: more arrests in your communities,” Homan said last month.

There will also be an emphasis on jurisdictions that do cooperate with federal immigration authorities. The 287G program, as it’s known, allows ICE to partner with state and local law enforcement, serving as a tool to bolster immigration enforcement in a given area.

“There is a concerted effort to issue 287G agreements with a very large number of willing partners,” one of the sources said.

One of the key elements of any plan to deport immigrants is detention space, which Democratic and Republican administrations have grappled with because of limited resources.

In an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Homan said he would need a minimum of 100,000 beds to detain undocumented immigrants – more than doubling the 40,000 detention beds ICE is currently funded for – and would require more ICE agents.

Multiple companies, including commercial real estate companies, have been reaching out to lobbyists and former Homeland Security officials to express interest in getting involved in detention, according to multiple sources.

One of the sources described the first days as “putting the structure in place to have a sustained high level of removal operations.” Key to that, however, will be shoring up enough federal funds.

Border executive orders

When Trump is sworn in next week, he’ll inherit a border with fewer crossings than when he left office – and he plans to use an authority recently invoked by President Joe Biden.

In December, the last full month of the Biden administration, US Border Patrol recorded 47,300 migrant encounters, a slight increase from November but marking the lowest daily average for a month since July 2020.

Migrant crossings along the US-Mexico border plummeted last year in the wake of executive action by Biden cracking down on asylum. Homeland Security officials have cited that action, which used an authority known as 212f, as contributing to the drop in crossings.

In 2018, Trump also tried to use 212f, which gives the president broad authority to implement immigration restrictions to restrict border crossings. But ultimately, a federal appeals court ruled that the authority conflicts with asylum law and the 212f authority doesn’t override it.

Trump is expected to invoke that authority as he did in his first term, applying it to the southern border.

His Day One executive orders also include launching negotiations for the return of the program informally known as “Remain in Mexico,” which required migrants to stay in Mexico while they went through immigration proceedings in the US.

His team is also preparing to launch negotiations to re-implement what was previously known as Asylum Cooperative Agreements, sources said.

The agreements – initiated during Trump’s first term – marked a significant shift in US asylum policy as migrants who may have legitimate claims for asylum could be sent to other countries to make their cases.

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