TRUMP’S ‘BORDER CZAR’ COULD HAVE MORE POWER, FEWER HURDLES ON DEPORTATION POLICY
President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to carry out his sweeping deportation plans may be able to operate with more power, and less oversight from Congress, than some of his own Cabinet members.
That’s because the appointee, former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting director Tom Homan, will not be put directly in charge of the Department of Homeland Security or a sub-agency tasked with addressing immigration issues.
Homan will instead be the Trump administration’s “Border Czar,” a title that could grant him significant influence over immigration and border policy without the formal authority — and guardrails — that come with being a Cabinet secretary …
Lee Gelernt, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who has helped challenge immigration policies during the Trump and Biden administrations, agreed.
Homan’s lack of an agency position “will not decrease his influence and may make it harder to have meaningful checks on his actions,” he said.
Faisal Al-Juburi, chief external affairs officer of the immigrant rights advocacy group RAICES, said czars can make major policy impacts “while simultaneously obstructing congressional oversight, which is critical to ensuring accountability of those acting on behalf of the U.S. government.”
The posts “create opaque circumstances that make it difficult, if not impossible, to determine who maintains authority over policies that stand to have a wide-ranging impact on the American people,” Al-Juburi said.
