US PRESIDENT-ELECT Donald Trump has said he will bring back hardline immigration official Tom Homan to oversee the country’s borders in the incoming administration.

The 78-year-old Republican tycoon has pledged to launch – on day one of his presidency – the largest deportation operation of undocumented immigrants in US history.

“I am pleased to announce that the Former ICE Director, and stalwart on Border Control, Tom Homan, will be joining the Trump Administration, in charge of our Nation’s Borders (“The Border Czar”)”, Trump posted on his social network Truth Social.

“I’ve known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders.”

Trump said Homan will be in charge of “all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin”.

Homan, who led immigration enforcement during part of Trump’s first administration, appeared at the Republican National Convention in July, telling supporters:

“I got a message to the millions of illegal immigrants that Joe Biden’s released in our country: You better start packing now.”

The incoming president secured a remarkable victory in the election last week, winning the popular vote and the electoral college. This is despite the fact that he never conceded the 2020 presidential election, is a convicted felon and had a number of indictments issued against him.

Trump has already made one cabinet appointment, naming his campaign manager Susie Wiles – who he calls “ice baby” due to her supposedly unflappable temperament – as his White House chief of staff.

Last night he told the New York Post he has offered Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik the job of US ambassador to the United Nations.

Stefanik, in her fifth term in office, told the newspaper she had accepted the role and was “truly honored”.

As well as Trump securing a comprehensive victory, Republicans also won control of the Senate, and are close to winning the House of Representatives, which will pave the way for the president to implement his agenda.

A competition for a new Senate leader is also underway, and Trump said any incoming leader “must agree” to allow him to make appointments when the chamber is on recess, bypassing a confirmation vote.

In a post on his Truth Social social media page he said:

“Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner,” Mr Trump posted, adding that positions should be filled “IMMEDIATELY!”

The Senate has not allowed presidents to make so-called recess appointments since a 2014 Supreme Court ruling limited the president’s power to do so.

Super-charge tensions

While the US government has struggled for years to manage its southern border with Mexico, Trump has super-charged concerns by claiming an “invasion” is underway by migrants he says will rape and murder Americans.

During his campaign, he repeatedly railed against undocumented immigrants, employing violent rhetoric about those who “poison the blood” of the United States.

In rally speeches, he wildly exaggerated local tensions and misled his audiences about immigration statistics and policy. Violent crime, which spiked under Trump, has fallen in every year of President Joe Biden’s administration.

Statistics show that migrants commit fewer crimes proportionately than the native population, though foreign suspects have been named in a few high-profile cases of violent attacks on women and children, infuriating Republicans.

With reporting from Press Association