CNN
—

Donald Trump’s Allies and some in the private sector are quietly preparing to detain and deport immigrants residing in the United States on a large scale, according to four sources familiar with the discussions.

And with the former president to be president-electThese preparations are now expected to accelerate.

Immigration was a cornerstone of Trump’s 2024 campaign, and as he repeatedly made promises of mass deportations down the road, with a greater emphasis on domestic sanctions than his obsession with a border wall in 2016, members in his orbit and some in the private sector debated what it was. According to sources, this plan would look like this.

Trump’s first priority is to reinstate his former administration’s border policies and reverse President Joe Biden’s, senior Trump adviser Jason Miller told CNN.

A source familiar with the team’s preliminary plans told CNN that early discussions among Trump’s team focused on eliminating undocumented immigrants who commit crimes. A key issue under consideration is how, when and whether to deport immigrants who were brought to the United States as children and are commonly known as Dreamers.

Targeting Dreamers would be a departure from the bipartisan support they have historically enjoyed. Some are temporarily protected by the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allows recipients to live and work in the United States.

Tom Homan, who previously served as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, could potentially serve as one of the leaders on immigration in the administration, sources said.

“This will not be a mass sweep of neighborhoods. He will not build concentration camps. I read them all. This is ridiculous,” Homan told CBS News in an interview that aired last month.

“There will be targeted arrests. “We will know who to arrest and where we are most likely to find them based on multiple investigative processes,” he added.

Brian Hughes, a senior adviser to Trump, said border security will be one of the president-elect’s priorities when he returns to the White House.

“President Trump won a landslide victory Tuesday because Americans embrace his common-sense policy of securing our borders and mass deporting illegal immigrants,” Hughes said.

Even before Tuesday night, some in the private sector who help provide services to detention centers were already in ongoing discussions about a possible second term for Trump and were planning for those talks to continue, one of the sources said.

A key element of any plan to deport immigrants is detention, which Democratic and Republican administrations have grappled with due to limited resources.

The federal government contracts with the private sector and works with county jails to build, operate and manage detention facilities.

“There are a small number of beds in federal facilities. The rest are split between private detention facilities and county jails,” said John Sandweg, who served as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the Obama administration. “There is an ICE presence, but the people who run the detention centers are generally employees of contractors.”

There are a number of contractors that the incoming Trump administration can rely on, including those that already have agreements with the federal government, potentially making the process easier.

Current and former ICE officials said the hard part is finding the money.

According to the figures, the average cost of apprehending, detaining, processing and removing an undocumented immigrant from the United States in 2016 was $10,900. released by ICE at the time. That same year, ICE also said the average cost of returning a deported person to their home country was $1,978. Since then, costs have only increased.

ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations was generally underfunded and had previously had to reprogram funds to expand detention space, particularly during border crossings. But officials said there are limits to how much money can be reprogrammed.

“They need to be aggressive so they don’t have to reschedule,” said a former senior ICE official, referring to the upcoming budget cycle. “If they want to achieve the goals they’ve talked about, they’re going to need big changes.”

This also includes supporting staff who have previously been a challenge for the organisation.

“They can deceive the existing contractors there regarding detention. They can move relatively quickly,” the former senior ICE official said, adding that deportations can be challenging in some countries.

“Every country has different requirements for travel documents. In Mexico and Central America, removals can occur quickly from the moment the removal order is issued. “In most countries this takes much longer,” they added.

ICE also has limitations on detaining immigrant families and is not responsible for detaining unaccompanied immigrant children; This responsibility falls to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Officials at the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration enforcement, are preparing for a jarring shift in immigration policy under the incoming Trump administration, prompting some interagency calls Wednesday as people braced for the weeks ahead.

A Homeland Security official described the mood inside as “a mixed bag.” One of the top questions on the department’s mind Wednesday was what would happen to the Biden administration’s policies, such as parole programs that allow beneficiaries to temporarily work and live in the United States.

“It was a shock among the political community,” another Homeland Security official said.

Biden eliminated many of the Trump administration’s controversial immigration policies in his first days in office. These policies may now be reversible.

To some at DHS, this sounds like welcome news. Over the past three years, the Biden administration has grappled with multiple border crises and faced harsh criticism from Republicans and Democrats both at home and abroad.

Biden administration officials ultimately took a much tougher stance on the U.S.-Mexico border, leading to a dramatic drop in migrant crossings in recent months.

Still, some of the department’s immigration enforcement officials welcomed Trump’s victory.

“There is a lot of optimism and hope,” another Homeland Security official said.