The former acting director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spoke out Thursday against President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead U.S. Customs and Border Protection, calling him the “perfect choice” for open borders advocates.
Tom Homan, who led ICE during part of the Trump administration, shared his remarks during an interview on “Fox & Friends,” following a Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing for Chris Magnus, Biden’s pick for CBP commissioner.
“I was a little disappointed in the hearing. I thought he should have gotten hammered more. If it were the Trump nominee, they would have been all over them,” Homan said.
Homan also revealed that Magnus, currently chief of police in Tucson, Arizona, has not cooperated with ICE officers and agents in the past.
“He is pro-sanctuary cities, refused to work with ICE when he was the chief in Tucson when I was the director, he refused to work with a lot of special agents and officers and even though his officers wanted to and they tried to behind the scenes, he ordered them not to assist immigration authorities,” Homan added.
Homan noted Magnus remains an avid critic of former President Donald Trump who has called the former president’s policies “inhumane.”
“He went against Donald Trump from day one, said his policies were inhumane, and bottom line, he fails to recognize that Donald Trump created the most secure border in my lifetime,” Homan said.
He sarcastically noted that Magnus is ideal for the Biden administration if it intends to push for open borders.
“He is the perfect choice for this administration if this administration wants open borders. He’s the worst choice for the men and women of CBP who simply want to do their job and secure the border,” Homan said.
The Magnus nomination process comes as CBP data obtained by The Washington Post showed that 1.7 million people were detained along the border during the federal 2021 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30. Arrests by Border Patrol agents hit their highest level ever recorded, according to the report.
The data set includes the final months of the Trump administration.
Since President Joe Biden took office, 1.3 million illegal immigrants have been detained, the report said.
On Tuesday, Magnus responded the spike in immigration numbers represented a “significant challenge” and “the numbers are very high.” He repeatedly avoided characterizing the surge at the border as a “crisis” despite persistent questioning, Fox News reported.
In response to the illegal immigration crisis and the Biden administration’s lack of action, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas has drafted what he called the “Stop the SURGE Act,” legislation that would open up new ports of entry in Democratic strongholds, so those areas could share in what Texas border towns are experiencing.
The locations are in Delaware, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, and California.
“For the past ten months, President Biden and his administration have willingly surrendered the United States’ southern border to dangerous criminal cartels, with no thought given to the South Texas border communities like McAllen and Del Rio, which are running low on resources from dealing with this massive influx of illegal immigrants,” Cruz said in a statement released Tuesday.
“That’s why today I am introducing this crucial legislation to alleviate the massive overload at the southern border by establishing new ports of entry in Democrat-led communities such as North Hero, Vermont, where Bernie Sanders spends his summers, and Martha’s Vineyard, where Democrat elites host their cocktail parties.
“If Washington Democrats had to endure even a fraction of the suffering South Texas families, farmers, ranchers, and small businesses have had to face, our nation’s immigration laws would be enforced, the wall would be built, and the Remain in Mexico policy would be re-implemented. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to stop ignoring the plight of South Texas communities and act swiftly to end this horrific humanitarian crisis.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
