Border Czar Says US Looking for More Countries to Accept Deportees

White House border czar Tom Homan said that the United States is aiming to reach deals with several countries to accept deported illegal immigrants whose countries of origin won’t take them back.

“When you’ve got countries that won’t take their nationals back, and they can’t stay here, we find another country willing to accept them,” Homan told Politico in an interview published on Friday, adding that the United States may not send some deported individuals to third countries that agree to accept them.

Homan then said that the United States is working to find other countries to accept deported illegal immigrants and indicated in the interview that some agreements are being hashed out. He would not name those other nations until “signed agreements” are intact.

When the U.S. government signs “these agreements with all these countries,” he added, “we make arrangements to make sure these countries are receiving these people and there’s opportunities for these people.”

So far, the Trump administration has deported people to South Sudan and El Salvador, although they were not those foreign nationals’ countries of origin.

“If there is a significant public threat or national security threat—there’s one thing for sure—they’re not walking the streets of this country,” he said. “We’ll find a third, safe nation to send them to, and we’re doing it.”

Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to deport eight foreign nationals to South Sudan, with the justices lifting an order from a lower court that blocked their deportation.

In an unsigned order, the Supreme Court said that the lower court couldn’t “enforce an injunction that our stay rendered unenforceable” and suggested that the Trump administration should return to the high court if more assistance is needed. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented in the order, with Sotomayor writing that the majority is favoring the Trump administration.

In the Politico interview, Homan was asked about the eight individuals who were deported to South Sudan.

“They’re free. As far as we’re concerned, they’re free … they’re no longer in our custody, they’re in Sudan,” Homan told the outlet. “Will they stay in Sudan? I don’t know.”

Since taking office, President Donald Trump has made mass deportations and bolstering security around the U.S.–Mexico border a priority. In recent weeks, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has terminated temporary protected status (TPS) for those from countries such as Venezuela, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, and several others, while it has suggested that illegal immigrants from those countries should self-deport using the CBP Home app to receive a cash bonus.

On Thursday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said the Trump administration will restrict immigrants living in the country illegally from enrolling in Head Start, a federally funded preschool program that the agency will reclassify as a federal public benefit.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the changes were part of a larger effort to protect American citizens’ interests.

“For too long, the government has diverted hardworking Americans’ tax dollars to incentivize illegal immigration,” Kennedy said in a statement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.