Border czar Tom Homan explained to ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith on a Friday episode of “The Stephen A. Smith Show” why President Donald Trump’s administration cannot limit deportations to only illegal immigrants who commit additional crimes.
While Homan has emphasized a focus on targeting “public safety threats” and “national security threats” for deportation, he has also noted that authorities would make collateral arrests of illegal immigrants who do not pose such threats. When Smith asked Homan on “The Stephen A. Smith Show” to respond to public backlash about the Trump administration not sufficiently working on deporting “the worst of the worst,” the border czar pushed back on the public perception, adding that only deporting threats “sends a bad message to the world.”
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“[W]hat folks on the left and folks that are just average American citizens are pointing out is that they don’t see that enough of that is happening,” Smith said. “That quote-unquote innocent civilians in this country that happen to be in this country are the ones being targeted, where you’re going to a school or you’re going to their workplace or what have you, and you’re taking them away in an effort to deport them. What do you say to that?”
Homan asserted widespread reports of immigration raids at schools and churches are false.
“[W]e are prioritizing public safety threats. That’s why the majority of people we arrest are criminals. The majority of people we’re detaining are criminals. That’s just a fact. But just because we’re prioritizing public safety threats doesn’t mean everybody else gets a pass,” he said. “Because if the message we want to send, Stephen, to the whole world is: you can enter the country illegally, it’s a crime, don’t worry about it. You can show up in court or not show up in court and get a final order of deportation from a federal judge — don’t worry about it. As long as you don’t commit another crime, you’re home free.”
“That’s not the message we’ve got to send to the whole world. Because if you do that, you’re never going to fix the issue. People are going to realize: ‘I can get to the United States, I can cheat the system and make a false asylum claim,’” he continued. “‘I’ll later be ordered removed, but I never got to leave because I didn’t commit another crime beyond illegal entry.’”
Homan argued that not enforcing immigration law for illegal migrants who have not committed crimes would be unfair to people who are putting in the time and money to become citizens legally.
“So when you don’t enforce law and you don’t show consequences, people feel welcome to come across. It overwhelms the Border Patrol. Now they’re dealing with this humanitarian crisis, but their national security job — it’s fractured because they created gaps in the system,” he added. “Because there are areas of the border where there’s not a single green uniform because they’re busy changing diapers, making baby formula, you know, and making hospital runs — whatever is required.”
“It’s important we send a message to the whole world: there’s a right way and a wrong way to come to this country,” he said.
Border Patrol agents released a total of zero illegal migrants into the United States in May. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) confirmed on July 15 that this trend persisted in June, a stark contrast to former President Joe Biden’s administration.
Border Patrol agents released 62,000 migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border in May 2024 and an additional 27,766 in June 2024 under Biden, according to CBP.
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