By New York Post (Politics) | Created at 2024-11-24 16:46:38 | Updated at 2024-11-24 19:44:00
3 hours ago
President-elect Donald Trump’s border enforcer Tom Homan is heading to Texas to prepare for his crackdown on illegal crossings.
Lone Star State Gov. Greg Abbott said Homan will inspect the Texas-Mexico border with him during a visit later this week.
He praised Homan as “the right guy in charge” to secure the border and deport illegal migrants.
“There’s a tall task for President Trump to find, to locate these people and then to deport them or to jail them,” Abbott said Sunday on the “Cats Roundtable” 770 “WABC radio.
“We’ve got the right guy in charge of it. His name is Tom Homan. He’s going to be the border czar. I’ve already begun to work with him. He’s going to be joining me in Texas this coming week.”
Abbott, who has clashed with the outgoing Biden administration over its dangerously lax border policies and refusal to cooperate with Texas on a crackdown, said he is thrilled to now have a willing partner to jointly address the crisis.
“We’ve had people who were antagonistic to Texas securing the border. Now we have allies. It’s going to be Texas working collaboratively with the Trump administration,” Abbott said.
“For one, we’re going to secure the border. For another, we’re going to have to remove from our country all these dangerous criminals to restore peace and safety in our communities.”
The governor said that arresting and deporting members of the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua will be a top priority for both the Trump administration and Texas.
“You’ve seen these outbreaks of the Tren de Aragua gang members here in New York. We have the Tren de Aragua members in Texas also. … We have to stop the murders by the people who Biden allowed into the country illegally,” Abbott said.
Texas has declared Tren de Aragua a terrorist organization.
Homan has said that deporting the gang members is part of his mission.
He got choked up during a recent interview discussing the murder of Laken Riley by illegal migrant and Tren member Jose Ibarra and said he should have never set foot in the country.
“We’re using law enforcement at the federal, state and local level to go after them more than any other state in America,” Abbott said Sunday. “We’ve made hundreds of arrests already. If you’re a member of Tren de Aragua in Texas, you’re going to be arrested. You’re going to be jailed.”
Texas, a border state, has been ground zero for grappling with illegal crossings for decades.
But when the crossings spiraled out of control two years ago, Abbott began putting thousands of migrants on buses to New York City and other urban centers in blue states to spread the burden of dealing with the crisis. It turned out to be a brilliant political strategy despite the criticism, forcing Democratic mayors including the Big Apple’s Eric Adams to publicly pressure and criticize Biden over the problem.
Texas authorities last week added more buoy barriers across sections of the Rio Grande to try to thwart illegal crossings after the Biden administration unsuccessfully sued the state over the floating barricades.
Abbott said Sunday that even more buoys, fencing and walls will be used to deter crossings.
Homan told The Post last week how he will use the military, too, to aid in the deportations of illegal migrants.
Homan, who served as the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement during Trump’s first term, said he will employ servicemen to perform “non-enforcement” duties such as providing transportation to free up more ICE agents to do field work.
He said he’s ready to do battle with sanctuary cities and states such as New York that prevent local law enforcement officers from communicating with the feds on the basis of immigration status.
The incoming border enforcer said harboring illegal migrants is a felony.
“Don’t cross that line,” he said.
