“We must ensure the security of our borders against trafficking and illegal immigration” because it is the “top priority,” Kristi Noem, chosen by Donald Trump as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), stated this Friday before the Senate. “President Trump was elected with a clear mandate; he needs to fulfill that mission,” she said about his immigration policy three days before the Republican’s inauguration.
To “liberate” the United States from what he considers an “invasion” of migrants, Trump promises “the largest deportation operation in the country’s history” as soon as he takes office on Monday. He promises to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, seal the border with Mexico, resume border wall construction, and hire 10,000 agents.
He will try to resurrect the Remain in Mexico program, so migrants wait for the outcome of the immigration process on the other side of the border, ban sanctuary cities that protect them from expulsion, and remove “all federal and social assistance benefits.”
He also wants to end or limit other legal entry pathways such as immigration protection that grants them residence and work permits (Temporary Protected Status, TPS) or the ability to request appointments through a mobile phone application (CBP One) or through procedures in countries they pass through.
To carry out his program, he has surrounded himself with loyal supporters who back his ideas during their Senate confirmation hearings.
Remain in Mexico
“There are more than 13,000 murderers loose in this country who have crossed that border, we have almost 16,000 rapists and sexual assault perpetrators loose in this country right now, more than 425,000 people with criminal records,” stated the South Dakota governor.
She refers to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) figures, according to which there would be 425,000 migrants with criminal convictions living freely in the United States, including more than 13,000 sentenced for homicide. According to DHS, the data “goes back decades” and some entered the country “in the last 40 years.”
The outgoing Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration “is doing nothing to gather them and remove them from our country. We will do it immediately, and that will be the priority,” Noem stated this Friday. Once “criminals, those who have violated our laws” are deported, Trump’s “next priority” will be “those with final removal orders,” she said.
She also stated she “100%” agrees with Trump on “reinstating the Remain in Mexico policy” and closing CBP One. Regarding humanitarian programs that allow some citizens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to request entry into the United States for a two-year period, if they have a sponsor in the country and pass a security check, Noem stated she will return to “case-by-case evaluation.”
It’s alarming
Regarding TPS, she insists that “the program was meant to be temporary” and criticizes the Biden administration for having extended this protected status by 18 months to about 600,000 Venezuelans and more than 230,000 Salvadorans already living in the United States. “This extension of more than 600,000 Venezuelans […] is alarming, when you see what we’ve seen in different states, including Colorado, with gangs causing harm,” Noem protested.
Since the release of a video showing armed Latinos in a building, Trump and radical right supporters claimed during the election campaign that the town of Aurora, Colorado, was terrorized by Latin American migrants. Local authorities denied this. Human rights advocacy associations are concerned about the fate of more than 11 million undocumented migrants in the United States.
Noem was long considered a potential Trump vice presidential candidate, but her chances plummeted after claiming she shot her dog because it was “unmanageable.”
