The White House News

President-elect Donald Trump confirmed on Monday that he is prepared to declare a national emergency and potentially use military assets as part of a mass deportation effort that his administration is preparing to launch on day one.

Trump responded to a Truth Social post by Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton, who said that Trump is reportedly “prepared to declare a national emergency and will use military assets to reverse the Biden invasion through a mass deportation program.”

“TRUE!!” Trump posted.

INCOMING TRUMP ADMIN EYES MASSIVE EXPANSION OF IMMIGRATION DETENTION: ‘HE WILL DELIVER’

Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border in 2019 in order to allocate more money to the construction of a border wall amid congressional inaction on the subject. Military assets have been used in a number of ways in regard to border security, including in Texas. However, it is not clear how they would be used related to deportations.

Trump made a historic mass deportation campaign a cornerstone of his 2024 campaign, and his top officials have repeated that promise since he was elected this month.

“Following the Eisenhower Model, we will carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history,” Trump said in September.

He has also promised to invoke the Alien Enemies Act to remove gang members, drug dealers and cartel members from the U.S., with the help of multiple government agencies.

Additionally, he previously said he is prepared to move troops to the southern border and use the Navy to impose a “fentanyl blockade” on U.S. waters.

Fox News Digital reported last week that the Trump administration is already discussing where it can expand detention centers in anticipation of the operation and has spoken to private prison companies about potential expansion.

Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for the transition team told Fox News Digital, “The American people re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin, giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail. He will deliver.” 

DEM GOVERNOR THREATENS TO USE ‘EVERY TOOL’ TO FIGHT BACK AGAINST TRUMP-ERA DEPORTATIONS

Trump announced three major immigration-related staffing moves last week. He announced that former acting ICE Director Tom Homan will be the “border czar” and will be in charge of border security and overseeing the deportation operation. On Tuesday, Trump announced that Kristi Noem was his pick to lead the department of Homeland Security. 

Trump is likely to face significant resistance from blue states for his deportation operation. Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said she is prepared to use “every tool in the tool box” to protect its citizens and residents and vowed that state police would “absolutely not” assist Trump in the operation.

‘LIBERATION DAY’: WHAT TO EXPECT FROM PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP ON BORDER SECURITY, IMMIGRATION

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said last week that he is “going to do everything that I can to protect our undocumented immigrants.”

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS

However, he conceded there were some circumstances where his state would work with the federal government to deport illegal immigrants.

Fox News’ Kristine Parks contributed to this report.

As the FBI investigates three incidents of U.S. commercial airliners being fired upon departing Haiti and the FAA orders a 30-day ground stop, nonprofit leaders are up in arms about the Biden administration’s overall response.

Jack Brewer, a retired New York Giants safety who runs the Jack Brewer Foundation, said in a Thursday interview the halt to civil aviation is a drop in the bucket compared to what President Biden can and should do against “terrorists” attacking U.S. citizens.

Brewer’s foundation has helped build churches, aided in the medical realm and ministered to underserved populations in Haiti and East Africa. In the states, the Jack Brewer Foundation’s major focus is on the fatherlessness epidemic that he said is particularly glaring in the Black community.

Brewer said he and his foundation are a consistent presence in Haiti, arriving regularly at Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, where the jets have been targeted.

JACK BREWER TORCHES CALIFORNIA’S COSTLY REPARATIONS PUSH

“We’ve also had some tragedy – we’ve had some unfortunate deaths,” he said, describing how the head of one of his schools was murdered and parents and children either kidnapped, attacked or burned alive by the gangs that have taken over their half of the island shared with the Dominican Republic since Haitian President Jovenel Moise was assassinated.

“They give FAA ground-stops for verbal threats… you don’t do FAA ground-stops when your planes are getting shot in the sky – you do military action,” he said, adding the FAA shouldn’t be the main agency for such a high-level threat.

A JetBlue flight bound for JFK, an American Airlines plane headed for Miami and, most recently, last Monday, a Spirit Airlines flight that attempted to land in Port-au-Prince but rerouted to Santo Domingo, were all found to have been hit by gunfire.

Brewer said the Biden administration is content to fight proxy wars in Ukraine and elsewhere, but not against a nation-state 90 minutes away from its shores where Americans are being maimed.

“If we really want to say we stand for democracy… then what are we doing in Haiti?”

He also criticized the Congressional Black Caucus for what he saw as relative silence against attacks on Americans, and in a global sense, an extremely dangerous environment for Black people.

“They’ll talk about Black Lives Matter and cops and all these other scenarios, but when you have this, the first independent Black nation in the world that’s in utter chaos, and we’re going to sit back here and do nothing about it. It’s a slap in the face as a Black man,” he said.

“And it should be a sign to all of the American people just how these Democrats on the left and their woke politics is nothing about except for themselves. If they can’t raise money for it, where it doesn’t benefit them politically, they stay out of it.”

FAA SUSPENDS AIR TRAFFIC TO HAITI FOR 30-DAYS AFTER FLIGHTS HIT BY GUNFIRE

In recent public actions, the CBC’s subset House Haitian Caucus held a news conference in September condemning hate against Haiti. 

CBC members Reps. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., in May, spoke on Capitol Hill to call for federal action on the Haiti crisis.

Cherfilus-McCormick, considered the first Haitian American in Congress, said Haiti is a “facing a political crisis of epidemic proportions with its people calling out for refuge.”

“The increasing violent gang activity and attacks on commercial airlines in Haiti have further destabilized the island, putting the Haitian people at greater risk and underscored the need for a comprehensive humanitarian response from the United States,” Clarke, Pressley and Cherfilus-McCormick said in a separate statement Friday.

“[W]e renew our call for the Biden-Harris administration to immediately halt all deportations, further combat illicit arms trafficking, and deliver the humanitarian assistance needed in Haiti.”

The three congresswomen are co-chairs of the House Haiti Caucus.

Brewer, however, said Biden had four years to better address Haiti, including after Moise was killed in 2021 and the ensuing migrant surge.

Brewer said he believes Trump is the right man to properly address the situation and that he should immediately sanction the country and appoint a “Frederick Douglass”-like ambassador instead of career civil servants to hold public officials there accountable.

“I would give them 24 hours. I tell all those gang members, whether it’s ‘Barbecue’ or whomever, all the gang members, just know you’ve got 24 hours to throw your guns in [or have] the U.S. military in there and smoke them all out.”

JP Decker, head of Mercury One – a charity that does similar work in Haiti – told Fox News Digital the group is trying to help an American family get their adopted daughter out of Haiti amid the chaos.

“This [FAA] decision has left many families in a state of uncertainty and has delayed the opportunity for many children to start their new lives with their adoptive families,” he said, calling on the feds to work with international partners to reopen the airspace and quell the threat.

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Victor Marx, who leads the Haitian orphanage organization All Things Possible, said the feds had not acted to “stabilize the situation and protect innocent lives before it reached this critical point.”

“Whatever support or assistance the United States might offer at this point must come with accountability,” he said. “Trust me, no one trusts that government. I would urge the U.S. to work through private organizations to bypass the government and bring stability to the region.”

A representative for the FAA said it is responsible for the safety of civil aviation operations, and that it indeed issued a “NOTAM” prohibiting flight within 10,000 feet above Haitian airspace for 30 days. The representative further directed Fox News Digital to the Pentagon.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and Pentagon. The CBC declined comment.

EXCLUSIVE: PALM BEACH, Fla. — President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday that in order to “Make America Great Again,” it is “vital” to have a “free, fair and open media,” telling Fox News Digital that he feels he has “an obligation” to the American people to work with the press, even those who had treated him “badly beyond comprehension.” 

In an exclusive interview Monday morning, the president-elect said he is in the process of transforming America into “the greatest and most powerful country in the world.” 

Trump discussed his relationship with the media, and how he plans to interact with the press in his second term. 

“In order to Make America Great Again, it is very important, if not vital, to have a free, fair and open media or press,” Trump said.

‘MORNING JOE’ CO-HOSTS HOLD FACE-TO-FACE MEETING WITH TRUMP FOR FIRST TIME IN SEVEN YEARS

Trump met with MSNBC hosts of “Morning Joe” Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski on Friday in Palm Beach — his first meeting with the two in seven years. 

“I received a call from Joe Scarborough requesting a meeting for him and Mika, and I agreed that it would be a good thing if such meeting took place,” Trump said. “We met at Mar-a-Lago on Friday morning at 8:00.” 

Trump said the meeting was “extremely cordial.” 

“Many things were discussed, and I very much appreciated the fact that they wanted to have open communication,” he said. “In many ways, it’s too bad that it wasn’t done long ago.” 

TRUMP TAPS FCC MEMBER BRENDAN CARR TO LEAD AGENCY: ‘WARRIOR FOR FREE SPEECH’

Trump added that they “congratulated me on running a ‘great and flawless campaign, one for the history books,’ which I really believe it was, but it was also a campaign where I worked long and hard — perhaps longer and harder than any presidential candidate in history.” 

“We talked about various Cabinet members — both announced and to be announced. As expected, they like some very much, but not all,” Trump said. “The meeting ended in a very positive manner, and we agreed to speak in the future.” 

Trump added, “I expect this will take place with others in the media, even those that have been extremely hostile.” 

The president-elect said he feels he has “an obligation to the American public, and to our country itself, to be open and available to the press.” 

“If not treated fairly, however, that will end,” Trump said. “The media is very important to the long-term success of the United States of America.” 

Trump told Fox News Digital that he “will do whatever is necessary to bring our country to the highest level that it’s ever seen.” 

“We’re off to a good start, and I will be open and free as to further developments as they take place, that includes media relationships,” he said. 

Trump said he “obviously” has “the upper hand at this moment.” 

“And while many others are calling for meetings, I am not looking for retribution, grandstanding or to destroy people who treated me very unfairly, or even badly beyond comprehension,” he said. “I am always looking to give a second and even third chance, but never willing to give a fourth chance — that is where I hold the line.” 

TRUMP GOES FULL MAGA AS HE PICKS ALLIES AND LOYALISTS TO FILL HIS SECOND ADMINISTRATION

Trump, though, thanked the “many reporters, journalists, shows and new media sources, of which there are many, who were truthful, honest and professional over the years of both my presidency and candidacies.” 

“They were the ones that kept me in the game, and they were the ones that gave me a victory — the likes of which our country has rarely seen before,” Trump said. “These people and organizations, and they know who they are, should be, and are, very proud of themselves, and they have a right to be proud. And I have a right to say to them — congratulations.”

Meanwhile, Trump has tapped the majority of his key Cabinet officials in just the week and a half since his massive election victory. 

His transition team is being run out of Palm Beach, Florida, before returning to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2025. 

“I will soon begin the process of transforming America into the greatest and most powerful country in the world,” Trump told Fox News Digital. “But at the same time, it must be a fair and just country — a country that others throughout the world will look up to and emulate.” 

The president-elect added, “Hopefully, our success will make the world, itself, a far better and safer place.”