A former director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the only way to end the ongoing immigration crisis at the southern border is a return to policies implemented during the Trump presidency. Speaking with Dan Proft on the Counter Culture Podcast, Tom Homan said the crisis is a result of policy, not a lack of resources as the current administration has claimed.
Homan is no stranger to controversy. First elevated to lead the nation’s immigration enforcement effort under former President Donald Trump, Homan regularly broke with tradition and courted controversy with statements about how ICE would operate. After serving in the role for just 18 months and facing withering criticism from liberals and immigration advocates seeking open border policies, Homan retired from public service.
Homan’s latest statement comes as the U.S. faces an unprecedented crush of immigration with thousands of people crossing the southern border every day. The crisis has handicapped the ability of ICE to perform its basic functions as agents are tied up filing paperwork under the Biden administration policies that allow immigrants to enter the U.S. on an asylum claim that could take years to be heard in court.
Under Trump, ICE used a policy commonly called “Remain in Mexico” that required asylum seekers to remain outside of the U.S. until their claims could be heard. The policy resulted in a drastic decline in the number of daily crossings but liberals viewed the policy as racist and inhumane. Immediately upon being sworn in as president, Joe Biden began the process of unraveling Trump’s immigration policies.
Since 2020, the U.S. has seen millions of immigrants arrive in the country, many from impoverished Latin American nations, but increasingly, immigrant caravans include asylum seekers from the Middle East and Asia. The number of suspected terrorists detained at the border has recently shot up in a troubling sign for Americans.
🔥Former ICE director Tom Homan:
“I promised President Trump when he announced, that if he goes back, I go back. And I’m gonna run the biggest deportation operation this country has ever seen.” pic.twitter.com/XyidYTOdsr
— The Conservative Read (@theconread) November 4, 2023
Trump policies that were unpopular with Democrats included the erection of a border wall to physically prevent crossings. The wall was one of the first policies that Biden ended and has since sold off millions in materials for pennies on the dollar. Biden was quietly forced to resume building the wall earlier this year.
Even Democratic leaders of so-called sanctuary cities have begun to cry foul with the Biden administration. Mayors of New York City, Chicago, and Washington D.C. have seen massive numbers of immigrants coming into their cities without funding in place to provide food and housing. Federal policies prevent immigrants, even those who are on an asylum claim, from being eligible to work. This has led to increases in violent crime, property damage, and a spike in prostitution that may be tied to international human trafficking.
Democrats in Congress and the Biden administration have been unable to offer solutions to the crisis and are increasingly recognizing the wisdom of Homan’s enforcement policies and the rules established by the Trump administration.
