that of Donald Trump Allies and some private sector actors are quietly preparing to detain and deport migrants residing in the United States on a large scale, according to four sources familiar with the discussions.

And with the former president become president-electthese preparations are now expected to be intensified.

Immigration was a cornerstone of Trump’s 2024 campaign, and although he repeatedly touted promises of mass deportations on the trail — with a greater emphasis on domestic control versus fixing it of 2016 on the border wall – members of his orbit and some members of the private sector have discussed what this plan would look like, according to the sources.

Trump’s first priority is to restore his former administration’s border policies and reverse those of President Joe Biden, Jason Miller, a senior Trump adviser, told CNN.

Early discussions within Trump’s team focused on deporting undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes, a source familiar with the team’s preliminary plans told CNN. A key question under study is how, when and whether to deport immigrants brought to the United States as children, commonly known as Dreamers.

Targeting Dreamers would be a departure from the historically bipartisan support they have enjoyed. Some are temporarily protected by the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allows beneficiaries to live and work in the United States.

Tom Homan, who previously served as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, could potentially become one of the administration’s top immigration officials, sources said.

“It will not be a massive sweep of neighborhoods. It will not be about building concentration camps. I read everything. It’s ridiculous,” Homan told CBS News in an interview that aired last month.

“These will be targeted arrests. We will know who we are going to arrest, where we are most likely to find them, through numerous investigative processes,” he added.

Brian Hughes, a senior adviser to Trump, said that when the president-elect returns to the White House, one of his priorities will be border security.

“President Trump won a landslide victory Tuesday because Americans embrace his common-sense policies to secure our border and implement mass expulsions of illegal immigrants,” Hughes said.

Logistical challenges

Even before Tuesday evening, some private sector players who help provide services for detention spaces were already in discussions about a possible second Trump term and expected them to plan to resume, according to one of the sources.

A key component of any immigrant deportation plan is detention space, which both Democratic and Republican administrations have struggled with due to limited resources.

The federal government contracts with the private sector to build, operate, and manage detention centers, and works with county jails.

“There are a small number of beds that belong to federal facilities. The rest of them are split between private detention centers and county jails,” said John Sandweg, who served as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the Obama administration. “There is an ICE presence, but by and large the people who run the detention centers are employees of the contractors.”

There are a number of contractors that the new Trump administration can rely on, including those that already have agreements with the federal government, making the process potentially easier.

The hardest part, current and former ICE officials said, is finding the money.

The average cost of arresting, detaining, processing and removing an undocumented immigrant from the United States in 2016 was $10,900, the figures show. published by ICE at the time. That year, ICE also said the average cost of transporting a deportee back to their home country was $1,978. Since then, costs have only increased.

ICE’s enforcement and removal operations have generally been underfunded and have previously had to reprogram funds to expand detention space, particularly during border surges. But there are limits to the amounts that can be reprogrammed, officials said.

“They should be aggressive in making sure they don’t have to reschedule,” a former senior ICE official said, citing the next budget cycle. “If they want to achieve the goals they’re talking about, they’re going to need changes of several orders of magnitude.”

This also means strengthening staff, which previously represented a challenge for the agency.

“As far as holding is concerned, they can approach existing contractors. They can move relatively quickly,” the former senior ICE official said, adding that deportations can be difficult with some countries.

“Each country has different travel document requirements. In Mexico and Central America, removals can take place quickly from the time the removal order is received. In most other countries it takes much longer,” they added.

ICE also has limits on detaining immigrant families – and is not responsible for detaining unaccompanied migrant children; this responsibility lies with the Department of Health and Human Services.

Mixed outlook at DHS

At the Department of Homeland Security, which is responsible for enforcing immigration laws, officials are bracing for a seismic shift in immigration policy under the new Trump administration, prompting interagency calls Wednesday as people are preparing for the coming weeks.

A Homeland Security official described the internal mood as “mixed.” One of the questions on the minds of department members Wednesday was what would happen to Biden administration policies, such as parole programs for certain nationalities that allowed recipients to work and live temporarily in the United States. United.

“Shell shocked the political class,” said another Homeland Security official.

During his first days in office, Biden rolled back many of the Trump administration’s controversial immigration policies. Today, these policies could make a comeback.

For some at DHS, this is good news. Over the past three years, the Biden administration has grappled with multiple border crises, drawing sharp internal and external criticism among Republicans and Democrats.

Biden administration officials ultimately took a much tougher stance at the U.S.-Mexico border, leading to a dramatic decline in the number of migrant crossings in recent months.

Still, some members of the department’s immigration agencies welcomed Trump’s victory.

“There’s a lot of optimism and hope,” another Homeland Security official said.

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