A senior US immigration official said the Trump administration is looking to overhaul deportation logistics by modeling operations after delivery giants like Amazon and FedEx, as Immigration and Customs Enforcement struggles with court backlogs and crowded detention centers.
Speaking at a border security conference in Phoenix, Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said the agency is effective at removals but it faces growing logistical hurdles due to the number of migrants in custody. Moving people efficiently by air and ground, requires the kind of precision used in the private sector to get packages from point A to point B, Lyons said.
“We need to get better at treating this like a business, where this mass deportation operation is something like you would see and say, like Amazon trying to get your Prime delivery within 24 hours,” Lyons told the Border Security Expo on Tuesday. “So trying to figure out how to do that with human beings.”
Lyons pointed to a backlog in immigration courts as one of the main obstacles in carrying out President Donald Trump’s directive for mass deportations. Roughly half of the pending cases involve asylum seekers facing years-long waits for rulings.
The administration is turning to technology to help speed up the process while still ensuring due process, said Lyons.
Immigrant rights advocates condemned Lyons’ comments as dehumanizing.
“Human beings aren’t products to be wrapped, packaged, and shipped to fulfill an order,” said Vanessa Cardenas, executive director of America’s Voice. “Todd Lyons is the one who needs to be sent packing — and his comments encapsulate so much about this administration and their cruel and costly mass deportation agenda and worldview.”
In remarks to the same conference audience, Border Czar Tom Homan praised ICE’s recent work but called for more aggressive results. “ICE is kicking butt,” Homan said. “The numbers are good. They’re not good enough. I want more.”
ICE has arrested tens of thousands of people living in the US without legal status since January when Trump took office. The Department of Homeland Security has promoted early deportation flights on military cargo planes and publicized images from enforcements raids on social media. But plans for large-scale deportations have yet to materialize.
Some removals have been halted by federal courts. Two rulings issued Wednesday blocked the deportation of Venezuelans under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said the agency is effective at removals but it faces growing logistical hurdles due to the number of migrants in custody.
A senior US immigration official said the Trump administration is looking to overhaul deportation logistics by modeling operations after delivery giants like Amazon and FedEx, as Immigration and Customs Enforcement struggles with court backlogs and crowded detention centers.
Speaking at a border security conference in Phoenix, Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said the agency is effective at removals but it faces growing logistical hurdles due to the number of migrants in custody. Moving people efficiently by air and ground, requires the kind of precision used in the private sector to get packages from point A to point B, Lyons said.
“We need to get better at treating this like a business, where this mass deportation operation is something like you would see and say, like Amazon trying to get your Prime delivery within 24 hours,” Lyons told the Border Security Expo on Tuesday. “So trying to figure out how to do that with human beings.”
Lyons pointed to a backlog in immigration courts as one of the main obstacles in carrying out President Donald Trump’s directive for mass deportations. Roughly half of the pending cases involve asylum seekers facing years-long waits for rulings.
The administration is turning to technology to help speed up the process while still ensuring due process, said Lyons.
Immigrant rights advocates condemned Lyons’ comments as dehumanizing.
“Human beings aren’t products to be wrapped, packaged, and shipped to fulfill an order,” said Vanessa Cardenas, executive director of America’s Voice. “Todd Lyons is the one who needs to be sent packing — and his comments encapsulate so much about this administration and their cruel and costly mass deportation agenda and worldview.”
In remarks to the same conference audience, Border Czar Tom Homan praised ICE’s recent work but called for more aggressive results. “ICE is kicking butt,” Homan said. “The numbers are good. They’re not good enough. I want more.”
ICE has arrested tens of thousands of people living in the US without legal status since January when Trump took office. The Department of Homeland Security has promoted early deportation flights on military cargo planes and publicized images from enforcements raids on social media. But plans for large-scale deportations have yet to materialize.
Some removals have been halted by federal courts. Two rulings issued Wednesday blocked the deportation of Venezuelans under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
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