The Trump administration is reportedly considering using the defense budget to boost deportations.
The administration is said to be unhappy with the current pace of deportations and believes the Immigration and Customs Enforcement budget may be a limiting factor.
Citing three unnamed sources, NBC News reports, “The Trump administration is considering tapping into Defense Department funding to hire contractors, a move that would vastly expand the scale and scope of immigrant arrests and deportations in the U.S., according to three sources familiar with the matter.”
The report continues:
The defense contracts would allow civilian-run companies to quickly and rapidly expand temporary detention facilities, such as those that house migrants in tents, as well as to staff those facilities and provide transportation between arrest locations and detention areas.
Such a move could also increase the number of airplanes available used to deport immigrants, as well as staff for the flights, the sources said.
Border czar Tom Homan has already tapped agents from the FBI; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and others to help support Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in making immigrant arrests.
But the pace of arrests and deportations has failed to meet Homan’s expectations, and President Donald Trump’s.
According to a Washington Post report, two Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have also been demoted due to the pace of deportations under their leadership.
“ICE staff were informed in an email Tuesday that Russell Hott and Peter Berg, the top two officials in the enforcement division of ICE, have been reassigned, according to the three people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the internal memo,” the report states.
Homan also expressed frustration with the pace of deportations.
NewsNation reporter Kellie Meyer asked the border czar if Trump has been happy with the deportation efforts. Homan responded, “I’m not.”
“If you look at the rest of interior enforcement, it’s about three times higher than it was a year ago today. Three times higher is good, but I’m not satisfied. There are more criminal aliens that need to be arrested, hundreds of thousands,” Homan added. “Sanctuary cities are putting roadblocks up. We’ve got leaks. So we need to increase the arrests of illegal aliens, especially those with criminal convictions. So we’re going to continue.”
NewsNation reports, “ICE averaged 787 arrests per day between Jan. 23-31, and about 11,000 arrests have been made in the last 18 days. The White House has reported 461 undocumented migrants were released from custody due to health concerns, insufficient detention space and other factors.”
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