Border czar Tom Homan clashed with Politico’s Dasha Burns in a Sunday interview where she cast doubt on the necessity of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents wearing masks during enforcement operations.
Despite increased attacks, Democratic Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Alex Padilla of California introduced a bill July 8 that would bar ICE agents and other federal immigration authorities from donning face masks during most enforcement operations. Burns, on “The Conversation with Dasha Burns,” said many people are “up in arms” about ICE wearing masks, saying it’s “not something that we’ve really had on this scale in this country,” prompting Homan to interrupt her to note the ramping up of attacks against agents.
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“Well, we never had the scale of attacks on ICE we have now — up 700% attacks on ICE, doxing against ICE agents,” Homan said.
Burns responded by arguing that there was a surge in “attacks on police officers” following the “defund the police movement.” She noted police officers did not start wearing masks after the attacks.
“Name a police agency that has a 700% increase in assaults,” Homan retorted. “Name one. You can’t.”
“I haven’t looked at that data, yeah,” Burns acknowledged.
The border czar asserted that there has never been this level of attacks on law enforcement. He added that not only have ICE agents faced doxing, but so have their families, as the Department of Homeland Security reported in a June press release.
“So they’re wearing masks to help give them some sort of protection,” he said. “The same people that are complaining about ICE wearing masks, have they ever said anything about BLM [Black Lives Matter] protesters wearing masks?”
Burns attempted to interrupt Homan, but he demanded that she allow him to respond.
“Let me answer though. Let me answer. Did they ever say anything about the masked protesters that became criminals on college campuses that threatened Jewish students and took over buildings, destroyed property?” the border czar asked. “They were all wearing masks. Did anybody pass legislation saying they can’t wear a mask during a protest? No.”
“Oh, I think there are a lot of people who are upset about that, but —” Burns responded before Homan cut her off to continue his line of questioning about the lack of legislation to ban protesters from wearing masks after masked protesters engaged in criminal acts.
He then explained he backs ICE wearing masks.
“I support ICE wearing masks. They’re still wearing insignia. They’ve got HSI, ERO, FBI, DEA, but there needs to be some level of protection because the attacks is unprecedented,” Homan said. “700% for God’s sake.”
“And what I want to remind people is I was an ICE agent. These men and women of ICE, they’re their mothers and fathers too. They don’t hang their hearts on a hook every day when they come to work,” he added. “They’re not the beast. They’re enforcing a law. They’re trying to make this country safe again. And they’re being vilified for it and attacked for it … zero tolerance on this.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has arrested multiple suspects accused of orchestrating a July 4 armed attack on a Texas ICE facility and shooting a local police officer in the neck.
Moreover, law enforcement officials also announced on July 7 that a gunman shot at Border Patrol agents at a Texas Border Patrol facility. Local police and border agents returned fire and killed the gunman.
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