All posts tagged "tom homan"

'They will be prosecuted, too': Trump border czar targets those funding protests

White House border czar Tom Homan warned that people funding First Amendment protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "would be prosecuted."

During a Sunday morning interview on Fox News, Homan told host Jason Chaffetz that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had a "historic number of prosecutions" against protesters for "impediment, assault, interference."

"So those protesters that we do see, I mean, some of it might be organic, but does strike me, it seems like a lot of them are being bused in," the Fox News host argued. "You see them at the end of these protests, actually getting back on buses."

"Are these protesters, the bulk of them, are they actually being financed from the outside?" he wondered. "And is that something that Homeland's looking at? Is the financing of how all these so-called organic protests are happening?"

"Absolutely," Homan admitted. "We know a lot of these protesters are being paid. Many have admitted to it. So, yes, there's a whole effort right now in identifying those who are funding these operations, those who fund the weapons that are being used."

"So, yeah, and they'll be held accountable too and held to the highest standards of the law," he added. "They will be prosecuted, too."

It is not illegal to fund constitutionally-protected free speech in the U.S.

Watch the video below from Fox News or click the link.

'Not hard to find!' Trump official's drug-dealing kin floated for deportation

Political consultant Stuart Stevens suggested that the Department of Homeland Security look a little closer to home — perhaps as close as the White House — in its efforts to root out convicted criminals for deportation.

Stevens addressed ICE chief Tom Homan on X, writing Thursday, "Here’s a tip, Tom Homan: Cuban born convicted narco-cartel drug dealer named Orlando Cicilia still in America. He’s not hard to find. He’s Marco Rubio’s brother-in law."

Stevens included a link to a Washington Post report from 2015 when Senator Rubio, now secretary of State, was running for the Republican nomination against Donald Trump.

In an article titled, "The drug-smuggling case that brought anguish to Marco Rubio's family," Post reporters Manuel Roig-Franzia and Scott Higham recounted a pivotal moment from Rubio's life in 1987.

"A teenager named Marco Rubio arrived home from school in West Miami to find his mother in anguish," they wrote. "Earlier that day, federal drug agents raided a house a few miles away that his brother-in-law, Orlando Cicilia, shared with Rubio’s older sister, Barbara."

The article continued that "as the future senator from Florida was finishing high school and preparing to go to college, his brother-in-law's illicit career as a cocaine dealer was exposed in a major trial," which would lead to a lengthy prison sentence.

The reporters added that there was "no evidence that Rubio or his parents were aware of Cicilia’s drug dealing, and Rubio’s sister was not suspected of any crime."

"Perhaps more relevantly Cicilia remained close to Rubio and his family after the arrest," according to Vox.

"It seems that Rubio helped out Cicilia with a letter to the Florida Real Estate Commission when Cicilia was applying for a license in 2002," wrote reporter Matthew Yglesias .

"Under the circumstances, the recommendation from a powerful state legislator likely carried a lot of weight, and Cicilia got his license."

Read the Vox story here.

ICE’s record cash infusion has expert wondering if they can even spend it all

Prominent immigration attorney Aaron Reichlin-Melnick claimed that Thursday's passage of Donald Trump's mega spending bill has made Immigration and Customs Enforcement "the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency in history."

Reichlin-Melnick posted to X that ICE will now have "more money per year at its disposal over the next four years than the budgets of the FBI, DEA, ATF, US Marshals, and Bureau of Prisons combined."

In a follow-up post, Reichlin-Melnick, who's a senior fellow with the American Immigration Council, broke down the numbers that appear in Trump's "big, beautiful bill."

"Here is the funding for immigration enforcement in the bill, to be spent through September 30, 2029," he wrote. "$74.9 billion for ICE detention and removal; $65.6 billion for CBP infrastructure, hiring, tech; $10 billion DHS slush fund; $3.5 billion for state enforcement. And more!" he wrote, pointing to a list of the "totals of all immigration and border-enforcement related spending ."

Reichlin-Melnick called it an "open question as to whether ICE even *could* spend $45 billion on detention in the next 51 months, given the agency's normal detention budget is $3.4 billion."

This must be welcome news to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after Axios reported that ICE was perilously close to running out of funds.

Axios reported that ICE was “already $1 billion over budget” as it continues to stage raids across the country. Axios's lawmaker sources said the Department of Homeland Security, which is in charge of ICE, could be violating “U.S. law if it continues to spend at its current pace.”

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) summed it up, saying, “Trump's DHS is spending like drunken sailors."

It remains to be seen how far the new influx of cash will last the department as Donald Trump vows to build more "Alligator Alcatraz"-type tent detention centers across the country.

'Incredibly sick!' MAGA melts down at CNN over report on new ICE tracking app

MAGA adherents, including those in the White House, had a full-blown meltdown over a CNN report on an app called ICEBlock that tracks the activity of Department of Homeland Security officers targeting undocumented migrants for deportation.

CNN's Clare Duffy reported Monday that the tech developer "wants it to be an early-warning system about the location of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. He says he does not want people interfering with those officers' activity, but he does want people to avoid them altogether, if they want."

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt learned about the report at Monday's press briefing

One reporter asked Leavitt to comment on "why CNN would be promoting such an app."

"Surely, it sounds like this would be an incitement of further violence on our ICE officers," Leavitt said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement posted a statement to social media from acting director Todd Lyons, saying, “CNN’s promotion of an ‘ICE spotting’ app is reckless and irresponsible. Advertising an app that basically paints a target on federal law enforcement officers’ backs is sickening...Is this simply reckless 'journalism' or overt activism?"

Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff for policy, posted on social media, "CNN is openly helping invaders and insurrectionists sabotage ICE."

Congress also got in on the action, with Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) posting that CNN is "pushing an app that helps DOXX ICE agents in real time...Will Apple and Google keep this in their app stores? Will Congress act as fast to ban this as they did with TikTok? Because if exposing American law enforcement to danger doesn’t raise red flags, what will?"

Trump's "border czar," Tom Homan, told right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson he was demanding a Department of Justice investigation.

"A national media outlet forecasting law enforcement operations. DOJ needs to look at this. Send a strong message," Homan said. "This is disgusting. It's a dangerous job, this puts the danger at a whole new level."

"Populist" commentator @joma_gc wrote, "Incredibly sick. CNN reporter @claresduffy did a puff piece with the developer of an app that allows users to track ICE agents in real time. CNN is now providing free advertising for an app that aims to get ICE agents hurt and/or killed in the line of duty. Why is Apple and Google allowing this on their app stores? This should be removed immediately."

Libs of TikTok wrote, "CNN knows exactly what they’re doing," and @AmericaPapaBear posted CNN "needs to be charged with aiding and abetting criminal activity!!"

Watch the clip below or at this link.

'Not afraid': Defiant governor fires back at Trump’s border czar after ‘chilling’ threat

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) said he's "not afraid" of the Trump administration after receiving a warning about instructing state employees on how to handle a confrontation with ICE officials.

Evers released a YouTube video Friday to hit back at "border czar" Tom Homan's suggestion that the governor was working to impede ICE arrests.

"The goal of this guidance was simple — to provide clear, consistent instructions to state employees and ensure they have a lawyer to help them comply with all federal and state laws. Nothing more, nothing less," Evers said.

"I haven't broken the law, I haven't committed a crime, and I've never encouraged or directed anyone to break any laws or commit any crimes."

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Homan told reporters at the White House Thursday to "wait to see what's coming" when asked about Evers' April memo advising state employees.

One of the recommendations was to "contact the agency's legal counsel if ICE officers visit a state building and ask the officers to return at another time if a staff attorney is unavailable," the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

"If you cross that line to impediment or knowingly harboring and concealing an illegal alien, that's a felony and we're treating it as such," Homan said.

In his three-minute-long response, Evers described Homan's threat as "chilling."

"We now have a federal government that will threaten or arrest an elected official, or even everyday American citizens who have broken no laws, committed no crimes and done nothing wrong," Evers said. "And as disgusted as I am about the continued actions of the Trump administration, I'm not afraid."

Last week, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested in Milwaukee and charged with two federal counts of allegedly "trying to help an undocumented immigrant avoid arrest after he appeared in her courtroom." The Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended Dugan this week, "until further order of the court."

Watch the video below or at this link.

'We're having a little difficulty': Trump complains of 'judge problems' at Cabinet meeting

President Donald Trump's complaint that he has problems with judges who don't like his immigration and deportation policies drew laughter from members at Wednesday's Cabinet meeting.

Trump called out Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Czar Tom Homan for doing an "amazing job" getting undocumented immigrants deported.

The administration has been under fire for deporting migrants for being "criminals" without Constitutional due process.

"For two months in a row, we have set the all time records for the lowest number of illegal border crossings ever recorded," Trump said. "The number of illegal border crossers released into the United States is down 99.999 percent. That is usually 100%. So, I think it's an amazing tribute...it's an amazing job actually, and it was done very quickly."

"We officially designated Tren de Aragua, MS-13, and the Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, and we're expelling these monsters from our country rapidly, and working with the Department of Justice. Pam, you're doing fantastic," he said, calling out Attorney General Pam Bondi.

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"Your people are amazing. We're having some judge problems," Trump said, eliciting laughs from the Cabinet.

"We're having some judges that don't like, you know, killers, murderers, being thrown out of the country. So, I don't know what their problem is, but we have a little difficulty."

Trump then claimed that immigration, not the economy, was the reason he won the election.

"We won on the basis of a great border and of getting criminals out of our country. That was why we won every swing state. We won by millions of votes. We won everything, every metric. We won by a lot. It was a massive victory, and we won, I think, largely because of this issue. I put this issue as number one issue, and they don't want us to do what we're supposed to do. And I don't think that can be. I hope the Supreme Court is going to fully understand what's going on. We have to get the criminals out of our country and that's the basis under which we won the election."

Watch the clip below via CNN or click the link.

'You don't get to decide!' CNN legal expert furious as Trump admin thumbs nose at judge

CNN legal analyst Elie Honig took a deep dive into the Trump administration's apparent disregard for a federal judge's order to return deportation flights heading to Central America.

On Saturday, U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg ordered two flights carrying immigrants to El Salvador and Honduras to be immediately turned around. But the Trump administration appeared to mock the judge's order with White House communications director Steven Cheung and Secretary of State Marco Rubio reposting the Salvadoran President's comment on X that said, "Oopsie…Too late," with a laughing emoji.

CNN's Dana Bash said Monday, "Tom Homan, who is the border czar said that the plane was already over international waters. So, my question is, is that a good enough argument when the judge ordered the flights to be turned around and they didn't comply?"

Honig replied, "I think the first thing we need to figure out is, where were all of these planes? We know there were at least two, maybe three planes. We also know that the judge gave his ruling from the bench at 6:47 p.m. on Saturday. So, we need to know as of that moment, where were these planes?

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He continued, "And if you look at Homan's statement, he really seems to be arguing something else. What he is arguing is, 'Well, it would have been a really bad idea to bring these planes back,' but that misses the point. The first point is, that's what the judge ordered; you don't get to decide whether you think it's a good or bad idea. The second point is, they certainly could have decided to tell those planes to turn around. I mean, we have advanced communications here. Planes can be rerouted, but chose not to."

Bash said that a hearing had been set for 5 p.m. Monday when the judge will decide whether the administration did, in fact, defy the court order.

"He's going to want chapter and verse," Honig said of the judge. "Who knew what when? If the judge ultimately concludes that his order was defied, the remedies, I'm sorry to tell you, are not especially satisfying."

Honig said the judge could enter an issue of contempt, "but that's fairly toothless. That's more symbolic than anything else."

"There's always the theoretical possibility of impeachment, if you have the executive branch defying the judicial branch. But, we live in a reality, that's not going to happen either," he said.

Watch the clip below via CNN.

Head of ICE removed as Trump 'frustrated' by low deportation numbers: report

Caleb Vitello has been removed from his post as acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to The Wall Street Journal.

A Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman told the Journal that Vitello "will remain at ICE and will head the office responsible for arrests and deportations."

She said he was “actually being elevated so he is no longer in an administrative role, but is overseeing all field and enforcement operations: finding, arresting, and deporting illegal aliens.”

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According to the Journal, "Top administration officials have been putting growing pressure on ICE to increase its daily arrests, even at one point telling individual field offices they were expected to hit daily targets of 75 arrests a day, or about 1,500 across the country. They have been casting around for solutions as daily arrests haven’t been hitting those targets."

The report stated that Trump's administration was "frustrated."

Vitello's reassignment is part of the Trump administration's shake-up of ICE leadership as they try to accelerate the number of undocumented migrants they deport.

Donald Trump promised during his campaign to enact a "mass deportation plan" to rid the U.S. of "millions" of undocumented migrants.

Read The Wall Street Journal Story here.

'He picked the wrong Latina': Trump border czar warned he's stumbled into brutal fight

President Donald Trump's "border Czar" Tom Homan, who has been tasked with deporting millions of undocumented migrants from the United States, made an enemy out of "the wrong Latina" when he went after Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), argued MSNBC columnist Julio Ricardo Varela.

Homan has repeatedly made a point of threatening AOC with a Justice Department investigation for hosting a webinar to teach undocumented migrants how to respond if they're confronted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. The webinar is titled, "Know Your Rights," but Homan has suggested its purpose is to "impede law enforcement" from doing its job.

Varela wrote, "In multiple media appearances, Homan insulted her intelligence, mocked her credentials and claimed she was undermining law enforcement. And he said he was 'working with the Department of Justice' to see whether the congresswoman was 'crossing the line.'”

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AOC wrote on social media Monday, “This is why you fight these cowards. The moment you stand up to them, they crumble. Homan has nothing. The Fourth Amendment is clear and I am well within my duties to educate people of their rights. He can threaten me with jail & call names all he wants. He’s got nothing else."

After Homan confirmed that he did alert the DOJ to the congresswoman's activities, she wrote to Varela, "The Trump administration understands that it does not have absolute power and that it must rely on creating a false illusion of power to create a chilling effect to get everyday people to respond to fear, comply in advance, and censor their own free speech. Ultimately, in clear scenarios such as these, the best way to handle paper tigers is to call their bluff."

"The country’s most prominent Latina politician is doing exactly what needs to be done," Varela wrote. "With people now impersonating ICE agents, the need for accurate information has never been greater. Politicians need to be there for immigrant communities, even if it means going toe to toe with the Trump administration. Ocasio-Cortez’s grace under pressure is what true community leadership is all about."

When Homan started a fight with Cortez, Varela wrote, "he picked the wrong Latina."

Read the MSNBC article here.

'Baseless': 'Border czar's' prosecution threat at AOC too much even for MAGA attorney

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) received a surprising defense from a Trump-supporting attorney after "border czar" Tom Homan threatened to investigate her for allegedly impeding law enforcement.

Homan repeated Sunday that he asked the Department of Justice to look into Ocasio-Cortez's recent live webinar called "Know Your Rights With ICE," where migrants were advised on what to do if confronted by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.

"I asked the Department of Justice, where is that line on impediment, right? It's a broad statute," Homan told CNN's Dana Bash. "Because you can call it 'Know Your Rights' all you want. We all know what the bottom line is. The bottom line is, how do they evade law enforcement?"

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Attorney Jonathan Turley posted to social media Monday, "Border Czar Tom Homan doubled down last night that Rep.Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) might be prosecuted for hosting a forum on ‘Know Your Rights’ for accused illegal aliens. Such a prosecution would be an assault on free speech rights."

But Turley couldn't help but take a swipe at the ultra-liberal AOC in a second post, accusing her of being no friend to the First Amendment.

"While AOC has never been a defender of free speech, principle demands something more from the rest of us who value the First Amendment. Just as VP Vance offered a powerful defense of free speech in Europe, this baseless threat undermines the high ground achieved in Munich," Turley wrote.

The "high ground" Turley referred to was a stunning speech given by Vice President J.D. Vance at the Munich Security Council. He slammed Germany over censorship and encouraged the government to listen to the country's far-right political parties. Vance was criticized at home and abroad, with Rep. Laura Gillen (D-NY) slamming Vance as "embracing a group that flirts with Nazism."

In response to Homan's repeated threats, Ocasio-Cortez posted, "Maybe he can learn to read. The Constitution would be a good place to start."

Border Czar Tom Homan doubled down last night that Rep.Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) might be prosecuted for hosting a forum on ‘Know Your Rights’ for accused illegal aliens. Such a prosecution would be an assault on free speech rights...
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) February 17, 2025