Tom Homan, President Trump’s “border czar,” defended the immigration raids this weekend and pledged to continue working toward carrying out the administration’s enforcement goals in a Monday interview.
In an interview on Fox News’s “America Reports,” Homan pushed back on criticism that “these are everyday people, these are families that are being attacked and dragged out of their homes.”
“I don’t think we arrested any families,” Homan said when asked to respond to that criticism. “We’ve arrested public safety threats and national security threats. Bottom line.”
“Look, President Trump won the election on this one issue: securing our border and saving lives. This, what happened on the southern border the last four years is the biggest national security threat this country’s seen, at least in my lifetime,” Homan continued, citing border statistics from under the Biden administration.
Homan committed to carrying out deportation operations “without apology,” saying it would benefit the country.
“We’re going to do this job. And we’re going to enforce the laws of this country. If they don’t like it, then go to Congress and change the law. We’re going to do this operation without apology. We’re going to make our communities safer,” he said.
Homan said he expects the continued operations will see “fentanyl deaths decrease, illegal alien crime decrease, sex trafficking decrease.”
“It’s all for the good of this nation, and we’re going to keep going. No apologies. We’re moving forward,” he added.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and a small handful of other federal agencies have conducted raids over the past few days, which led to the arrest of more than 2,000 people, including almost 1,000 on Sunday alone, ICE said.
The raids have given rise to sharp criticism from Democrats, who accuse Trump of seeking petty political revenge by launching the deportation raids in deep-blue cities like Chicago, where he frequently clashes with Democratic officials.
“These unwarranted raids have not only targeted hardworking individuals but, alarmingly, have also wrongfully targeted U.S. citizens and veterans,” said Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Hollywood star Selena Gomez also garnered attention for a video she posted to social media, saying, while wiping away tears, “All my people are getting attacked” with an image of the Mexican flag.
“I just want to say that I’m so sorry. All my people are getting attacked. The children. I don’t understand,” the 32-year-old Emmy Award-nominated actor said in the video, which has since apparently been deleted.
“I’m so sorry, I wish I could do something, but I can’t. I don’t know what to do. I’ll try everything, I promise,” Gomez added.
