Ex-acting ICE director says mass deportation possible without family separation if they’re ‘deported together’

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Former acting ICE director Tom Homan on mass deportation

Former acting ICE director Tom Homan said the prospect of mass deportation is not threatening to the nation’s immigrant community, but "should be threatening to the illegal immigrant community." (CBS)

Mass deportations could be performed without separating families if families are deported together, Fox News contributor Tom Homan said during an interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes.” 

Homan served as acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during a portion of former President Donald Trump’s administration.

Trump, who is currently aiming to win the 2024 presidential election so he can return to the White House next year, has said that he would pursue the “largest mass deportation in” U.S. history.

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Tom Homan former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Journalist Cecilia Vega asked Homan whether it’s possible to perform mass deportations without splitting up families.

“Families can be deported together,” Homan answered.

When Vega asked why an American child should have to relocate to another country, Homan pointed out that the parent illegally entered the U.S. and had a child while in the nation unlawfully, and that the parent “created that crisis.”

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The U.S.-Mexico border wall is seen in Sasabe, Arizona. (VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)

Homan rejected the notion that discussion of mass deportation is racist or threatening to immigrants, but he said “it should be threatening to the illegal immigrant community.”

He suggested that mass deportation is necessary in the wake of the “historic illegal immigration crisis.”

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Homan is seen speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. ( Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Homan noted that if he were at the helm, his first priorities for removal would include public safety and national security threats.

Alex Nitzberg is a writer for Fox News Digital.