White House border czar Tom Homan pushed back Sunday after CNN’s Dana Bash suggested federal immigration agents are stopping suspected illegal immigrants based on their skin color.
Earlier this week, the Trump administration rolled out a major Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation in Minnesota’s Twin Cities, surging about 100 federal agents into Minneapolis and St. Paul to target undocumented Somali nationals with final deportation orders. Appearing on “State of the Union With Jake Tapper and Dana Bash,” Homan pushed back after Bash claimed Somali individuals were being stopped and questioned simply based on appearance.
“No, they’re not. You know, the law requires agents are trained — Fourth Amendment training — every six months. Border Patrol is trained in Fourth Amendment training,” Homan said when Bash asked if ICE agents were stopping people resembling Somalis. “They stop. You can detain and question people for a short period of time based on a reasonable suspicion.”
“And what is that suspicion? Is it based on how they look?” Bash asked.
Homan responded that a person’s race or appearance alone can never meet that legal threshold.
“No, their appearance alone can’t raise reasonable suspicion. It’s articulable facts, a lot of different facts [taken into] consideration, and the Supreme Court just backed the Trump administration up on this. I know a lot of the media said, ‘Oh, the Supreme Court just justified racial profiling,’” Homan continued. “That’s not what the Supreme Court said. [The] Supreme Court said they agree with the way these operations are being conducted because the standard of reasonable suspicion is being used by both ICE and the Border Patrol in the interior operations.”
In September 2025, the Supreme Court voted 6–3 to stay a district court injunction which curtailed certain federal immigration enforcement operations. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that the lower court improperly barred officers from making investigative stops based on factors such as location, type of work, language, or apparent race or ethnicity.
ICE launched aggressive operations in Minneapolis and St. Paul to deport Somali nationals as President Donald Trump escalated rhetoric about Somalis in the U.S., according to The New York Times. Federal prosecutors are pursuing fraud cases involving more than $1 billion in taxpayer funds allegedly stolen from state and federal social services programs, including initiatives meant to feed low-income children and provide care for autistic patients.
At the time of publication, authorities have secured 59 fraud convictions involving pandemic-era feeding programs, housing assistance, and autism therapy services. About 86 people have been charged in the scheme; all but eight are of Somali ancestry, according to The New York Times.
Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz slammed the Trump administration’s response to the Somali welfare scandal as a “PR stunt,” even as state officials blamed him for a “cascade of systemic failures” after he allegedly ignored laws meant to expose fraud. Trump also blasted Walz in a Nov. 27 Truth Social post, accusing him of doing nothing to stop Somalis from stealing and misusing taxpayer funds.
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