Trump News

The relative calm that Tom Homan brought to immigration policy discussions following the firing of controversial DHS Secretary Kristi Noem was loudly slapped aside this week when Trump's border czar made a vulgar boast about the administration's plans for aggressive deportation enforcement.

Speaking at the Border Security Expo in Phoenix, Arizona, Homan declared that the Trump administration's record deportation numbers from last year would pale in comparison to what's coming next — specifically pledging to deploy more than 10,000 additional federal agents to carry out mass removals, NPR is reporting.

"If you think last year's historic number is good, wait till [sic] next year and we have 10,000 more agents on the border. You ain't seen s--- yet," Homan proudly boasted in his opening remarks. "This year will be a good year. Mass deportations are coming."

NPR's Ximena Bustillo reported that Homan directly challenged critics who question the administration's commitment to aggressive immigration enforcement, telling attendees, "For the people out there saying President Trump's weak on mass deportation, what the hell are you talking about? President Trump made a promise to the American people that's going to happen."

The border czar also signaled that the administration has no intention of dialing back who will be scooped up.

"It doesn't mean because you prioritize criminals, everybody else is off the table. I've said no one's off the table. Why is that? I don't care how long you've been here. If you're here illegally into this country, you cheated," Homan made clear.

Homan's aggressive rhetoric comes despite polling showing declining public support for the administration's enforcement approach. At the start of the year, more than half of respondents said immigration enforcement tactics had gone "too far," though nearly three-quarters of Republicans approved of ICE's work, NPR is reporting.

The report added that, while newly confirmed DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin was not present at the Phoenix event, Homan insisted the secretary shares his uncompromising vision for mass deportations

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley (R), the powerful chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has been implicated in a lawsuit filed by two FBI agents who were terminated by Director Kash Patel for their work on special counsel Jack Smith's investigation of Donald Trump.

According to reporting from The Hill, the 92-year-old Republican played a significant role in precipitating the agents' firings by releasing unredacted materials about the criminal investigation into Trump — materials that exposed the agents to public backlash and eventual removal from the bureau.

While the suits don't name Grassley as a defendant, they single out his actions as a factor in the agents' alleged wrongful termination. The lawsuits assert the agents were fired solely based on their assignment to Smith's investigation team — work that the FBI now characterizes as "somehow hostile partisan acts."

Grassley's unredacted disclosures included the names of the agents, something their attorney argues directly sparked both online harassment and internal backlash from the FBI as it culled employees aligned with the Smith probe, The Hill is reporting.

"It is appalling to me that lawmakers would so carelessly mischaracterize these unredacted disclosures, knowing that the direct result of their actions is to cause an ill-informed online mob to go after honest, hardworking federal law enforcement officers," said Margaret Donovan, a former federal prosecutor representing two agents suing the FBI claimed in a statement obtained by The Hill.

Donovan noted the Iowa lawmaker's age as a possible contributing factor that led to the misguided firing.

"The best-case scenario is that Grassley is so far past his prime, he is clueless as to what he's doing. The worst-case scenario is that Grassley and others are intentionally trying to harm federal agents who dared to investigate criminal activity, which happened to implicate a political ally," Donovan said.

The report points out that the litigation raises broader questions about the Senate Judiciary Committee's sweeping investigation into Smith's probe — and Grassley's role within the conservative ecosystem focused on what Republicans have branded as "rot" at the FBI.