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The Trump administration has plans to turn the idea of “remigration” — a term associated with the far-right in Europe and the forced removal of all immigrants back to their native countries — into an official federal office that will be dedicated to escalating deportations across the United States.
In a move to follow through with President Donald Trump‘s vow to lead the “largest” mass deportation operation in American history, his administration proposed the creation of an Office of Remigration, which will be a “hub for immigration issues and repatriation tracking.”
The plan was detailed in a more than 100-page notification sent by the State Department to six Congressional committees, outlining its intentions to make widespread changes, including reducing immigration, the closure and restructuring of offices, and staff firings at its Washington, D.C., headquarters, according to CNN, which obtained a copy of the document.
Per the outlet, the notification states that the Office of Remigration “will provide a policy platform for interagency coordination with DHS and other agencies on removals/repatriations, and for intra-agency policy work to advance the President’s immigration agenda.” State Department funds will be used to “intra-agency policy work to advance the President’s immigration agenda” and will use State Department funds to “actively facilitate the voluntary return of migrants to their country of origin or legal status.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the State Department’s proposal in April. “The plan submitted to Congress was the result of thoughtful and deliberative work by senior Department leadership,” Rubio said in a statement. “We have taken into account feedback from lawmakers, bureaus, and long-serving employees. The reorganization plan will result in a more agile Department, better equipped to promote America’s interests and keep Americans safe across the world.”
The department’s plan also calls for the elimination of most of the Democracy, Human Rights and Labor bureau’s regional offices, according to Reuters. Rubio proposed appointing a new deputy assistant secretary who would oversee a new Office of Natural Rights to “build the foundation for criticisms of free speech backsliding in Europe and other developed nations.”
According to CNN, the document also confirmed earlier reporting that a majority of the disaster relief work by the United States Agency for International Development, orUSAID, would be absorbed into the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. The decision has been denounced, following devastating cuts to USAID by billionaire Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which threaten to leave theworld’s most vulnerable people without access to life-saving supplies of food, clean water, and medicine.
It’s a testament to Trump and his administration’s obsession with deporting migrants, around which they are focusing an obscene amount of federal resources. Stephen Miller, the White House adviser and fervent immigration hawk, reportedly yelled at top immigration officials earlier this month because they weren’t deporting enough people, and on Thursday the administration shook up the leadership of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) .
Miller posted ahead of the election last year about “remigration,” writing on X: “THE TRUMP PLAN TO END THE INVASION OF SMALL TOWN AMERICA: REMIGRATION!”
Now that Trump is back in office, the plan appears to be taking shape.
