Washington - Saba:
US media on Sunday quoted Tom Homan, the future official in charge of the border in the Republican administration, as saying that the incoming administration of US President-elect Donald Trump is considering the possibility of using US military bases to detain and deport illegal immigrants, as well as using military aircraft to expel them.
Homan said earlier that "the Trump administration will expel families of illegal immigrants from the country, including parents whose children were born on US soil."
According to Homan, Trump's aides are now awaiting a proposal from the US Congress on the amount of funding for the initiative.
Homan said he sees the military as a "force multiplier" needed to carry out a mass deportation of illegal immigrants from the United States, and the military can also be used to help with logistical and administrative tasks, intelligence analysis, and infrastructure construction.
Meanwhile, reports have confirmed that such a practice has been used by US authorities before, in particular, former President Barack Obama and current President Joe Biden used military bases to temporarily detain minors who entered the country illegally before returning them to their families, and refugees were also housed in US military bases after the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan in 2021.
Trump previously said that on his first day in office he would sign a package of executive orders to close the US border to undocumented immigrants, and promised to deport and "destroy" every foreign gang member and illegal immigrant on US soil.
In December, US media reported, citing sources, that Trump's team was also exploring various ways to end birthright citizenship, including refusing to issue documents to children of fathers who do not have passports and tightening requirements for tourist visas.
Trump has expressed his intention to tighten immigration policy in the United States on several occasions and criticized Biden for his inaction on the issue.
However, the future Trump administration, which is discussing plans for mass detention and deportation, faces the same resource constraints that Biden faces, and the issue of regulating immigration policy remains a hot topic of debate in the United States.
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