“Illegals must go,” Tom Homan, the incoming Border Czar, has declared — and he and President-elect Trump mean that literally. Critics have a pat response: It is not physically or financially possible to implement the largest deportation program in our history. But they’re missing a critical tool: the ability of the entire executive branch to create conditions that will help induce self-deportation by many aliens.

Trump and Homan have already indicated that they’re going to focus the Department of Homeland Security’s resources on the worst-of-the-worst, in what we can call a “catch-and-deport” program, in contrast to the “catch-and-release-or-don’t-even-bother-to-catch” program of the past four years. Their top priority is aliens who pose national security threats, as well as the murderers, rapists, burglars, arsonists, thieves, gang members and other criminals that President Biden and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas have allowed to freely roam throughout the nation.

But many other illegal aliens can and should be removed by DHS. As a former immigration judge told me, just enforcing the estimated 1.3 million final-removal orders issued by immigration judges that have been piling up at the Department of Homeland Security – sitting there ignored by the current administration – would make a significant dent in the illegal alien population.

Because these are final orders after the aliens have gone through the immigration court system, no advocacy group has any legal basis for suing the new administration to stop the aliens from being picked up and deported.

These final deportation orders are like the “letters of transit” in the classic 1942 movie “Casablanca,” where Peter Lorre says they “cannot be rescinded, not even questioned.” Not only should DHS be enforcing these orders, but to the extent needed, other federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the U.S. Marshalls Service, should be immediately directed by the president to help DHS agents to the extent needed.

But the key to overall success is getting rid of the incentives and benefits that keep illegal aliens here. Most of them are here for one reason, and one reason only: economic. The largest proportion of illegal aliens are single, adult males. They are here to earn money that they send to their home countries. The remittances sent to Mexico alone are expected to reach $65 billion by the end of this year, one of the reasons the Mexican government has encouraged, aided, and assisted this illegal immigration.

The Trump administration must use all of the powers of the federal government to make it as difficult as possible for illegal aliens to work, find housing, travel, engage in financial transactions, and otherwise live in the country they have no right to be in, and no right to work and live in.

Here are just a few of the steps that should be taken on January 20, 2025, as soon as Donald Trump is inaugurated:

Many other steps should be taken, but these basic ones would provide a solid start. It has to be an all-government effort, not just an effort by DHS.

These measures, if combined with similar steps by cooperative state governments—such as denying illegal aliens driver’s licenses and car license tags (thus limiting their transportation options) and all other types of permits and licenses—would provide an incentive for aliens to self-deport and stop abusing the generous hospitality of the U.S.

* * *

Hans von Spakovsky is Manager, Election Law Reform Initiative and Senior Legal Fellow, Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation. He is an authority on a wide range of issues — including civil rights, civil justice, the First Amendment, and immigration.

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.