(Jennie Taer’s article from the NEW YORK POST on 11 November 2024.)
Trump’s new border czar Tom Homan vows that
sanctuary cities will not stop him from deporting migrant criminals: ‘We’re
coming’. President-elect Donald Trump’s new “border czar” Tom Homan has a
message for New York City and other sanctuary jurisdictions: Nothing will stop
us from deporting migrant criminals.
“If we can’t get assistance from New York City, we
may have to double the number of agents we send to New York City,” he said on
Fox & Friends on Monday. “Because we’re going to do the job with you or
without you.”
Homan — whom Trump tasked with both securing the border and carrying out the deportation of millions of migrants who are in the US illegally — told The Post that he wants his boss to put maximum pressure on the leaders of New York and other sanctuary cities that refuse to cooperate with efforts to lock up and deport migrants who commit crimes in the US.
“I’m hoping the president files a lawsuit against
them and withholds federal funding,” Homan said. He said that he would rather
work with local cops to identify migrants who have been arrested and take them
into ICE custody. But, if police are barred from helping the feds identify
suspects, “then we’ll wait til they get out of jail, then we’ll go out into the
neighborhoods and get them.”
Homan warned New York City officals that
"we’re going to do the job with you or without you.” He added: “If they’re
not willing to do it then get out of the way — we’re coming.” Homan said
enforcing immigration laws like that will require a lot of manpower, “so if I
have to flood agents to the sanctuary cities to get the job done then that’s
what we’re gonna do.”
On Sunday, Trump appointed Homan, the former acting
director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the first Trump
administration, to the post currently held by Vice President Kamala Harris —
who oversaw more than 8 million migrants entering the country illegally in the
last four years.
Thomas Homan said last month that families can be
deported together. Trump’s new ‘border czar’ Tom Homan vowed to launch
America’s ‘biggest deportation operation’ — and sparred with AOC. “I’m going to
be extremely successful because I’m following failure,” Homan said.
An ex-cop and former border agent from West
Carthage, New York, Homan was appointed to the agency by former President
Barack Obama in 2013. He famously pledged at the Republican National Convention
in July that if Trump won the election he would “run the biggest deportation
operation this country’s ever seen.”
‘A cop’s cop’
“No one has better ideas for strong border security
than him,” said former ICE Denver chief John Fabbricatore, calling his
appointment “a step in the right direction” in moving away from the disastrous
policies of the previous administration.
“Having had the privilege to work under Tom Homan,
I can confidently say he is a ‘cop’s cop.’ His decades of immigration
operational experience and no-nonsense approach are perfectly suited for the
role of Border Czar,” he said. “Tom will enforce the law effectively and
humanely. I’m confident that he’ll assemble a capable team to address the
challenges at the border efficiently.”
Derek Maltz, who worked alongside Homan at their
nonprofit Border911, told The Post he thinks the border czar-in-waiting will
prioritize hunting down illegal immigrant “ghost criminals,” terrorists and
other violent offenders. “Tom understands this, plus he’s got very very
intelligent and experienced partners that he’s worked with on these issues of
immigration. He’s the perfect guy.”
Homan has made the rounds on news programs in
recent weeks, calling the current border crisis “the biggest national security
vulnerability this nation has seen since 9/11” on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends”
Monday morning.
His first order of business in his new post will be
to visit the borders and get a sense of the “latest issues” agents are facing,
as well as their “pain points,” he told The Post. He’s also planning to meet
directly with agents and the heads of the major immigration enforcement
agencies.
“I’m not coming in and making major changes on day
one as far as the agencies are concerned, but they’re going to have a whole new
prioritization.” Homan pledged at the Republican National Convention in July
that if Trump won the election he would “run the biggest deportation operation
this country’s ever seen.”
Securing the border
The migrant crisis has grown so huge that agencies
responsible for keeping the border secure have been taking agents off patrol
and tasking them with “making sandwiches, changing diapers and making baby
formula,” Homan said.
“When you take most border agents off the border
during this humanitarian crisis, that’s when the fentanyl comes across that’s
killed a quarter-million Americans. That’s when the sex trafficking increased
600%. That’s when suspected terrorists cross into this country,” he told the
hosts. Homan said the border crisis has been so bad that agents have been taken
off patrol to deal with a humanitarian crisis.
Homan will also be “very engaged in creating and
helping support” a border wall “system” to enhance technology and visibility
for border agents to track illegal crossings, Maltz shared, chalking up his
level of direct involvement to the decades he’s spent as a border enforcer.
As for naysayers’ alternatives? “What is the
option? You have a right to claim asylum, to see a judge — we made that happen.
But if the judge says you must go home, then we have to take them home. Because
if we’re not, what the hell are we doing?” Homan said. “If the judge’s order
doesn’t mean anything, then shut down the immigration court. Take the border
patrol off the border if there are no consequences for violating the laws of
this country.”
Mass deportations
A favorite campaign boogeyman trotted out by left-leaning media was the threat that the Trump administration would look to conduct mass deportations of migrants. However, Homan said he will focus on law-breakers, terror suspects and other migrants who are a threat to the community — downplaying criticism that there will be mass roundups.
Trump’s new border czar Tom Homan defends plans to
boot millions of migrants from US: ‘I don’t care what people think of me’. “President
Trump has made it clear… we’re going to prioritize public safety threats and
national security threats — an there’s a lot of them,” he said. “In terms of
criminal removals by ICE, it’s down 72% from the Trump administration.
Homan told CBS’ “60 Minutes” that ICE raids will be
targeted, and not carried out as “mass sweeps of neighborhoods,” adding that he
would bring back “necessary” workplace raids, which were halted under the
Biden-Harris admin.
Workplace raids
The carrying out of such workplace raids is another
controversial component of the second Trump administration’s stated border
policy. The reversal from the previous administration, Homan says, is because
“most victims of sex trafficking and forced labor trafficking” are found at
workplaces.
Biden’s Homeland Security Department halted ICE
raids on worksites in October 2021, claiming they were used by the first Trump
administration “as a tool by exploitative employers to suppress and retaliate
against workers’ assertion of labor laws.”
Homan said that raids undertaken by border security
agencies will be targeted and based on who presents a threat to homeland
security or public safety, particularly those who have been ordered to leave by
a judge but never left.
Jon Feere, previously ICE chief of staff under the
Trump administration, told The Post that businesses breaking the law by
employing illegal immigrants should either clean up their acts or prepare for
trouble.
“If I were a business engaged in unlawful
employment practices, I would be thinking about course correction right now.
I’d be thinking about automation where possible and I’d be concerned that some
ICE officers and agents are going to come knocking on the door,” he said.
Kids and families
Family separation at the border is another tragic
side effect of mass-scale illegal immigration, and has put hundreds of
thousands of children at risk of exploitation. “This administration has lost
over 300,000 children that were smuggled into this country by criminal cartels
they can’t find. We need to save these children, because some of them are in
forced labor, some are in sex trafficking, some are living a life of hell every
day,” Homan said on Fox News.
Homan vowed to help the children who have been lost
while getting smuggled into the country under the Biden administration. “We
need to save these children and get them back with their families.”
Feere said Homan will need to leverage agencies
beyond ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), to track down missing
immigrant kids and conducting raids of worksites, calling it “an issue that
needs to be addressed from multiple angles.”
As for some negative public opinion out there
that’s been critical of the planned overhaul — which he said have included
death threats against him and his family — Homan doesn’t give it a second
thought.
Homeland Strategic
“Frankly, I don’t care what people think about me,
especially in the left,” Homan said when asked how he planned to handle
criticism of Trump’s border policy. “I don’t care about anybody’s opinion. When
you create a crisis this big, all of these other bad things happen, that’s why
you have to secure the border. I don’t care if you’re a Democrat, Republican or
independent, border security is national security. We should all be on the same
side of that.”
Homan said in no uncertain terms that the new
border regime would not be like it’s been under Biden and Harris. “President
Trump is going to secure this border, he’s going to save American lives. We’re
going to drop illegal alien crime, which is skyrocketing. Less people are going
to die from fentanyl, less children will be sex trafficked, less women will be
sexually assaulted on the southern border,” Homan said, speaking directly to
the camera.
“The criminal cartels will be put out of business
by this president.”
Families can be deported together!
Homan to AOC: Criminal families are to be separated.