Border Czar Homan Says All Illegal Immigrants Will Soon Receive Self-Deportation Warning

Former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Tom Homan speaks during the third day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wis., on July 17, 2024. Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images

The Trump administration will issue a program to allow illegal immigrants in the United States to self-deport, border czar Tom Homan has said in a new interview.

“There’s going to be a warning coming out, about 10 days from now, where we’re going to ... give illegal aliens the right to self-deport so they don’t get a bar placed onto them,” he said in an interview with pundit Glenn Beck published on Feb. 5, referring to the government placing a ban on an illegal immigrant from reentering the United States for a period of time.

“If you get deported from this country, formally deported, there’s a bar placed on you from five to 20 years, depending on your case, and you can’t come back under any circumstance, even if you have a U.S. citizen child,” Homan said.

He said that if “they report to ICE before they self-deport or stop at a port of entry, we’ll give them credit for it,” while suggesting that self-deportation is likely the best possible outcome for an illegal immigrant.

The Trump administration has said it is making cracking down on illegal immigrants a priority. Since President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20, he has directed the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to carry out enforcement actions in various major U.S. cities.

Earlier this week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) submitted a notice in the Federal Register that the administration moved to remove protection against deportation for about 348,000 Venezuelans with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), meaning they could lose work permits in April.

The notice said the protections were contrary to U.S. interests and no longer justified by conditions in Venezuela. TPS status is available to people whose home countries have experienced a natural disaster, armed conflict, or other extraordinary event.

Last week, DHS canceled an 18-month extension of temporary protections for Venezuelans under the previous administration. On Monday, DHS stopped Venezeuelans’ status from automatically renewing for six months.

Also on Monday, DHS said in the Federal Register notice that while some adverse conditions exist in Venezuela, there have been “notable improvements in several areas such as the economy, public health, and crime that allow for these nationals to be safely returned to their home country.”

Aside from the decisions on deportations, Trump also signed orders declaring a national emergency and an invasion at the U.S.–Mexico border. Before Trump returned to the White House, about 2,500 National Guard and Reserve forces were consistently deployed to the border, and an additional 1,100 Army soldiers and 500 Marines were sent to the border after he took over.

Meanwhile, Homan and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said earlier this week that border crossings are down 93 percent in about two weeks.

Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also came to an agreement this week that Mexico would deploy 10,000 of its National Guard members to the border in return for a pause on 25 percent tariffs on Mexican goods entering the United States. On Tuesday, the first of those forces arrived in border cities, Mexican officials said. Guard members in the Wednesday patrol confirmed that they were part of the new force.

“There will be permanent surveillance on the border,” José Luis Santos Iza, one of the National Guard leaders heading off the deployment in the city, told media upon the arrival of the first set of soldiers.

“This operation is primarily to prevent drug trafficking from Mexico to the United States, mainly fentanyl.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.