Tom Homan, the border czar of the White House, promised this Thursday to intensify deportations in 2027 during a speech before conservative Hispanics at Trump National Doral Miami, a city impacted by immigration operations that have emptied businesses and generated panic among residents.
The official spoke at the second Hispanic Leadership Conference of the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) and boasted record figures: "In the last four months, nearly 200,000 arrests in the interior. That's unprecedented," he declared, according to a report from Univision.
Without providing specific figures, Homan suggested that September could become the month with the highest number of deportations in the history of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), following the consecutive records set in June, July, and August.
He then issued the warning that encapsulates his message for 2027: "Wait and see what we do next year. We’re going to keep breaking records and fulfilling President Trump’s promise of mass deportations."
Facing criticism from Republican congressmen and the Hispanic community, Homan was direct: "A lot of people in this country hate me. I don't care," he said, adding that the government still needs to hire about 2,000 more officers to continue ramping up operations.
The chosen setting for the speech was neither casual nor neutral. Doral has the highest proportion of Venezuelans in the entire United States—about 27,000 residents of Venezuelan origin out of a population of 76,490—and gave Trump approximately 60% of the votes in 2024. Many of those who supported him are now facing the direct consequences of his immigration policy.
The numbers reflect the magnitude of the local impact. According to data analyzed by Associated Press, ICE made 49,571 arrests nationwide in July 2026, the highest monthly figure of Trump's second term; more than half of those detained that month had no criminal convictions or pending criminal charges.
In Miami-Dade, the ICE field office surpassed 7,500 arrests just in July, and about half of those arrested did not have a criminal record, according to Local 10 News.
The impact in Doral is visible ten blocks from the hotel where Homan spoke. Small businesses in Miami report sales declines of up to 70%. Katia Ríos from Pipo Burgers summarized it this way: "People are afraid to go out. It is affecting us."
Downtown Doral has canceled its Oktoberfest due to concerns in the community.
For Cubans in South Florida, the announcement of more operations in 2027 has direct implications. Thousands hold I-220A — supervised release — or parole with pending immigration cases, and this document does not provide automatic protection against a deportation order.
In 2026, there have been documented cases of Cubans who attended appointments with ICE and received removal orders, and even deportations to African countries such as Liberia and Equatorial Guinea because Cuba does not accept all flights.
The fiscal year 2026 closed as the deadliest in ICE history: 37 people died in the agency's custody, compared to 23 in the previous fiscal year, according to Bloomberg Law.
Among the deceased are three Cubans: Geraldo Lunas Campos, Denny Adán González, and Aled Damien Carbonell-Betancourt.
Political tension within the Republican Party in South Florida is rising. Representative Mario Díaz-Balart said that same Thursday to Telemundo that immigration policy "has been excessive," while Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar had already stated in a campaign ad that Trump's policy goes "too far."
The Coalition of Venezuelan Societies in the USA announced that it would deliver a letter to Díaz-Balart this Friday to demand immigration relief.
The mayor of Doral, Christi Fraga, has posed a question that encapsulates the distress of many Cubans with pending cases: "How can someone be sent back to Cuba? Even Cuba is not accepting some, and they are ending up in Africa. What's going on?"
Las promesas de Homan y los operativos de ICE en comunidades como Doral son parte de un panorama migratorio que cambia día a día. Sigue todos los detalles en nuestra sección de
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