Trump plans to declare national emergency over illegal immigration
President-elect Donald Trump confirmed Monday his new administration will declare a national state of emergency over illegal immigration.
The confirmation came via Truth Social, where Trump shared a post about the emergency declaration. That post noted Trump will "use military assets" to conduct mass deportations form the country.
"TRUE!!!" Trump exclaimed in response.
Trump's announcement comes on the heels of his decision to name former Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Tom Homan as his border czar. Homan has taken a strict stance on immigration, telling Fox News he may send more ICE agents to sanctuary cities such as New York City.
"If we can't get assistance from New York City, and I may have, we may have to double the number of agents we send in New York City, because we're going to do the job, we're going to do the job without you or with you," he said. "But it's much easier to arrest a bad guy, like I just said, we're concentrating on public safety threat to human and national security threat, it's much easier to arrest a bad guy in the jail."
"Give us access to Rikers Jail that we've been kicked out of," he added. "Let us get the bad guy in jail. It's safer for the alien, it's safer for the officer, it's safer for the community."
Several major Democratic leaders are now speaking out against the Trump administration's plans. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson defied Homan's threat, saying police in his city would not cooperate with ICE.
"We're going to defend the people of this city because his attack, let's be very clear — the president-elect, former President Trump, his threat is not just toward new arrivals, and undocumented families" Mayor Johnson said. "His threats are also against Black families."
White House attacks on individuals or groups, he added, is "unconscionable" and reflects poorly on the president.
Also speaking out was Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey who told MSNBC she would "absolutely not" help the Trump administration.
"I think that the key here is that every tool in the toolbox has got to be used to protect our citizens, to protect our residents and protect our states, and certainly to hold the line on democracy and the rule of law as a basic principle," she said.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has a similar sentiment, vowing to resist possible deportation raids.
