Hispanic Caucus warns Minneapolis: Trump aide Homan lied about ICE drawdowns before
WASHINGTON — Border czar Tom Homan’s goodwill tour continues, but members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus aren’t buying it.
In Minneapolis on Thursday, Homan — who as an aide to President Donald Trump has vowed to “run the biggest deportation force this country has ever seen” — announced the end of the immigration crackdown that has upended the city and roiled the nation.
On Capitol Hill, Homan’s claim that ICE is pulling out, after federal agents killed two protesters in three weeks, was met with suspicion from leading members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
“They're going to draw down in Minnesota and go somewhere else where they're not going to get as much [pushback],” Rep. Juan Vargas (D-CA) told Raw Story.
“They got particularly beat up [in Minneapolis] because the people that they shot and killed were very sympathetic. And I think they're going to go to some other place where people might not look so sympathetic.”
U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both 37, were shot dead by federal agents in Minneapolis. Their deaths triggered outrage, repulsion and protest in ways that agents’ alleged abuse of migrants has not.
While the shooting deaths of two white protesters inspired a protest song written and released by Bruce Springsteen, Hispanic Caucus members point to comparatively muted protests over 32 deaths of migrants held in ICE custody last year as evidence of a double standard even for sympathetic voices on the left.
Homan took over supervision of the Minnesota immigration surge after the Trump administration removed Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino.
"I have proposed, and President Trump has concurred, that this surge operation conclude,” Homan told reporters on Thursday. “A significant drawdown has already been under way this week and will continue to the next week."
Homan also claimed to have "improve[d] coordination and achieve[d] mutual goals” with local authorities, and to be “leaving Minnesota safer."
But media coverage painting Homan as a sort of savior-like figure since swooping into Minneapolis made Latino politicians in Washington laugh until they cry.
Vargas for one wasn’t buying anything about the notion of Homan as a friendlier face of Trumpist immigration policy.
“You know, it's interesting because the other guy's face completely looked … like a fascist, there's no doubt about that,” he said.
Bovino courted controversy with gestures and costumes critics said evoked far-right precedents.
“And then it just was downgraded to a bully,” Vargas said of Homan. “But we're still at bully level. I mean, him being the nice face is incredible. You know, really, the bully is the nice guy?”
'Horrible stuff'
Other CHC members concurred.
“You know, [Homan] has a pretty brutal history, so for him to become like a lighter version, it'll be tough for him to do that,” Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) told Raw Story.
“His demeanor has been very in-your-face. And, you know, that's what they're trying to do. Today we heard from a Marine whose father was a gardener who was beaten down by ICE, the father of three U.S. Marines, [Narciso] Barranco.
“So this is horrible stuff that is happening in the nation. The fact that they are reacting shows that they admit what they got wrong.”
Others on the Hispanic Caucus said they’d heard Homan’s tune before.
“[The Minnesota surge ]has created so much backlash even within their own base, that they have to try to quell that, because it's just undermining their position,” Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) told Raw Story. “Even when they said that they were doing a surge in LA, they pulled back, they didn't.
“So I think it's probably hiding the ball a little bit, Homan being the ‘softer face’. I think it's a laughable approach.
“Remember a lot of the stuff he was saying early on? Maybe he didn't agree with it. Who knows, but he still believes in a kind of a hardcore anti-immigrant enforcement.”
FBI agents at the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center in Union City, Georgia. REUTERS/Alyssa Pointer