Trump names first political picks with focus on immigration
November 11, 2024
US President-elect Donald Trump appointed a number of loyalists to his incoming administration on Monday, including tapping longtime adviser Stephen Miller to be his deputy policy chief.
The appointments indicate the new Trump administration's tough stance against illegal immigration.
Longtime aide tapped as policy chief
Miller is one of Trump's longest-serving aides since his first campaign for the White House.
He has been key to many of Trump's previous policy decisions, including a 2018 move that separated thousands of immigrant families as a deterrence program.
Since leaving the White House after Trump's first term ended, Miller served as the president of America First Legal — a conservative organization that challenges the Biden administration, the media, universities and other groups on issues such as freedom of speech and national security.
"This is another fantastic pick by the president," Vice President-elect JD Vance said on social media.
Waltz tapped as national security adviser
Trump picked Mike Waltz as his national security adviser, sources told the Associated Press and Reuters news agencies.
Waltz, a three-term Republican congressman and the first Green Beret elected to the US House, easily won reelection last week.
He has served as chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness and is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
A staunch Trump supporter, Waltz has criticized Chinese activity in the Asia-Pacific and voiced the need for the US to be ready for a potential conflict.
His appointment does not require Senate confirmation.
Former ICE boss to be next 'border czar'
Trump also announced that he had appointed a former acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as his "border czar," a role which does not require Senate approval.
"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," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Trump added that Homan "will be in charge of all deportation of illegal aliens back to their country of origin."
Homan was the acting director of ICE from 2017 to 2018.
Speaking at the National Conservatism Conference in Washington earlier this year, Homan vowed to run "the biggest deportation operation this country's ever seen" if Trump was elected again.
Trump loyalist to represent Washington at UN
Trump also chose New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik to be the next US ambassador to the United Nations.
Stefanik took her seat in in 2014, in the years that followed, she became one of Trump's most loyal allies in the House, defending him vigorously through both of his impeachment trials as well as his four criminal indictments.
Stefanik hold minimal foreign policy and national security experience, but she has been a vocal supporter of Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza.
"Elise is an incredibly strong, tough, and smart America First fighter," Trump said in a statement Monday.
It was his first appointment that will require senate confirmation.
zc/lo (AP, AFP)