Acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons said he wants to see a deportation process “like [Amazon] Prime but with human beings” at an immigration forum in Phoenix on Tuesday.

Lyons said the process needs to be treated “like a business,” speaking alongside Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Trump border czar Tom Homan.

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He suggested that artificial intelligence could be infused into the process to “free up bed space” and “fill up airplanes” taking illegal immigrants back to their home countries at a quicker pace. Noem appointed Lyons to his position last month after a stint as acting executive associate director of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, which has a budget of $4.4 billion.

Lyons’s Amazon Prime comparison could mean deportations are conducted in a routine way and are widespread, much like the tech giant’s delivery services. The comments drew swift criticism from the Left on social media.

“Tell me, in other words, that you don’t care about civil and human rights,” the director of Hofstra University’s Deportation Defense Clinic, Alex Holtzman, posted on X.

“I’m sorry but in a just world, people should be SCARED to say sh*t this evil in public, let alone to a journalist. ‘Prime, but with human beings’ is one of the most vile things I’ve ever read,” a self-described “marxist” social media user said.

Other immigration officials at the event spoke about the Trump administration’s mass deportation plans, including Homan, who defended the use of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act.

“That is a law enacted by Congress, and we are using that,” Homan said, adding that it “bothers him” when the government is prevented from using it.

The border czar also said that family detention is still “on the table” despite being a contentious immigration tactic in the past. Homan said it could be implemented to prevent human smuggling and to make sure “families are families.”

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Noem said at the forum that they are “extremely close” to “operational control” of the border, with low apprehension numbers. Like Homan, she said she would be working to defend the Alien Enemies Act and praised the invokation of the law. Noem said she wants to put the deportation operation on “steroids.”

The Homeland Security secretary also predicted how Trump’s tariffs will affect her department. “It will look like a roller coaster for a little while,” she said, adding that she believes the tariffs will help in the long run.