How Trump's 'border czar' is envisioning his mass deportation plan: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.

In today’s edition, political embed Alec Hernández sifts through 20 interviews Donald Trump's incoming "border czar," Tom Homan, has done to get a clearer sense of his mass deportation plans. Plus, chief political analyst Chuck Todd breaks down the opportunities and challenges facing Mike Duggan's independent bid for Michigan governor.

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Tom Homan takes to conservative media to outline Trump’s plan for mass deportations

By Alec Hernández

President-elect Donald Trump’s picks to serve in top jobs in his next administration have generally stayed off the airwaves to avoid any verbal slipups that might jeopardize their chances at being confirmed by the Senate. 

Not so with Tom Homan.

Homan, who was the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement during Trump’s first term in office, has been tapped to be the new White House “border czar.” The job does not require Senate confirmation, meaning Homan has the freedom to go on cable news and conservative media and promote Trump’s agenda. 

In the past month, he has done at least 20 interviews, which have all been reviewed by NBC News. Tasked with coordinating Trump’s core campaign promise of a mass deportation, Homan has used the appearances to begin detailing how the efforts might take shape and how the administration will move its plan forward. While they are far from painting a complete picture, the interviews have given more specifics than have been offered about the deportation policy in the past. 

Using the U.S. military: During the campaign, Trump suggested that his administration could use the military for the deportations, and he has considered moving U.S. troops from overseas to station them at the southern border. 

In an appearance on SiriusXM’s “The David Webb Show” on Nov. 12, Homan said he sees the potential role of service members as most helpful with tasks that do not require explicit immigration authority. 

The Defense Department “has helped several administrations on the border. They could be a force multiplier,” Homan said. The military, he continued, “could be used to help relieve law enforcement officers from administrative duties so they can get on the street and do what they’re supposed to be doing.” 

Where the funding comes from: A major outstanding question is how the incoming Trump administration would fund a deportation scheme at a large scale. Homan, who will have no official authority over how much funding he will have for his efforts, has said that Trump has pledged the financial support needed to execute on his promise.

“Well, $86 billion is the minimum,” Homan said Sunday about the cost of the deportation on Fox Business’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” noting that the administration would need an assist from Congress for the funding.  

Cooperation (or lack thereof) with local officials: Given the immense scope of the operation Trump seeks, Homan has expressed a need for support from local authorities to carry out the immigration plans. But several Democratic leaders have already signaled their intention to resist and inhibit agencies like ICE from operating within their jurisdictions.

As Homan has often been pressed in his appearances on television to respond to those vows of noncooperation, a pattern has emerged in how he signals the administration will handle resistance: promises to ramp up deportation efforts in the face of opposition and threats of consequences, including prosecution, for those who impede the administration’s efforts. 

“Law enforcement should work with law enforcement,” Homan said in an interview on Fox News on Nov. 11. 

“I’ve seen some of these Democratic governors say they’re going to stand in the way. They’re going to make it hard for us. A suggestion: If you’re not going to help us, get the hell out of the way, because we’re going to do it,” he said. 

Read more →

More on Trump’s immigration plans: The incoming Trump administration intends to rescind a long-standing policy that has prevented ICE agents from arresting undocumented people at or near so-called sensitive locations, including houses of worship, schools and hospitals, or events such as funerals, weddings and public demonstrations, without approval from supervisors. Read more →

Is the rise of the independents coming? An experiment is brewing in a key battleground

By Chuck Todd

While most of Washington is obsessed with either the reality show that is Donald Trump’s transition or the hand-wringing and blame-gaming over Democrats’ election loss, a potentially critical political storyline is brewing in Michigan.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan shocked the state’s political world by announcing he would run for governor in 2026 — but not as a Democrat, the party in which he’s been an active and prominent member of for 40 years. Instead, he will seek the office as an independent, avoiding a potentially crowded and divisive Democratic primary.

The list of Democrats who could seek to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer isn’t short on prominent names: state Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist and Duggan all appeared to be the three leading candidates for some time, quietly preparing for runs throughout 2024.

In my experience, most independent candidates who previously ran and won as Democrats or Republicans but then switch do so out of some political necessity. That is, they don’t think they can get a fair shake from primary voters, or they fear the supporters and positions they plan to take will work only in a general election but would be a problem in the primary.

The hurdles for winning as an independent are so much higher that it isn’t a path of least resistance. In Michigan, there’s an even bigger hurdle: It’s a state that still allows straight-ticket voting, in which a voter can simply pull one lever or bubble in one circle for a major party to indicate a vote for every partisan running on the ballot. 

So what are the upsides for Duggan? The biggest include likely financial support. Some of his biggest supporters aren’t traditional Democratic donors, like Rocket Mortgage founder Dan Gilbert and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. 

Having support from the likes of Gilbert and Dimon might be good politics in a general election, but it wouldn’t go over well with many activist Democratic voters. In addition, Duggan has broken his share of eggs in trying to clean up and reform Detroit. He has gotten high marks, but he has had his fair share of run-ins with key Democrats in the city, who may be more inclined to oppose him in a gubernatorial primary (and as a lame-duck mayor) than they were in city politics. 

So Duggan most likely saw the primary as both a math problem and an issue-position problem. A knife fight for the Democratic nomination against experienced and respected pols like Benson, Gilchrist or even Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg — a wild card who moved to the state after the 2020 election and has now been a resident long enough to meet Michigan’s constitutional requirement to run for state office in 2026 — would likely cause all sorts of cultural and identity divides that might damage an eventual nominee. 

Read more from Chuck →

That’s all from the Politics Desk for now. If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com

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