“Give me an example of where we went too far,” Border Czar Tom Homan challenged. “That’s a pretty bold statement to make.”
Yes, it is a pretty bold statement, but that’s not what Homan meant. He was responding to Florida Republican Representative Maria Elvira Salazar, who recently ran a political ad complaining about the Trump administration’s deportation work. She asserted that Hispanic voters “feel betrayed” because some tactics used by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement have “gone too far.”
Other Republicans are squirming about deportations, too, thanks to Leftmedia propaganda on behalf of Democrats souring public support.
Homan is generally correct, though. Under his direction — and that’s an important distinction — ICE has largely focused on the right priorities and deported illegal aliens who absolutely should not be in the U.S. Homan was dispatched for cleanup after President Donald Trump deported former DHS chief Kristi Noem in March. Homan’s no-nonsense approach was a notable change from Noem’s more confrontational tactics.
He and ICE are focusing on illegal aliens who have committed crimes beyond the crime of illegally crossing the border or overstaying a visa. But as he correctly notes, illegals are “deportable by federal law.”
“If you’re in the country illegally, you got a problem. You shouldn’t be here,” Homan said. Still, he added, “Everybody we arrest has an opportunity to see a judge and plead their case.”
To critics, he said, “I wish they’d sit down and talk to ICE. I wish they’d find out: What is ICE doing? How are they doing it? And educate themselves.”
As for examples of ICE actions that are, at a minimum, controversial, however, we need not look further than the family of Renee Good filing civil suits against DHS this week for her death. One suit is against the United States, and the second names specific Trump administration officials, including Noem.
“I don’t want to see any tragedies happen,” Homan said of the lawsuit. “I wish Renee Good was alive today. I wish that incident [didn’t] happen, but it happened, and it’s being investigated. I don’t want to see anybody die.”
I covered Good’s death in January. She was shot by an ICE officer after she obstructed lawful ICE operations, refused to comply when given specific instructions, and accelerated her vehicle in the direction of an officer. I’m also sorry she’s dead; it shouldn’t have happened. But she made every possible wrong choice leading to her death.
The same goes for Alex Pretti, who was killed while obstructing and then scuffling with ICE officers in January. These deaths were the direct result of the Left’s anti-ICE strategy.
Other ICE shootings, however, were more problematic, and ICE is sorting through some hiring issues.
Speaking of Trump administration immigration policy, the Supreme Court agreed on Thursday to hear the dispute over detention practices. A ruling may not come until June 2027.
“The administration has argued that [the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996] requires that federal officials detain any immigrant ‘seeking admission’ — a category that the administration says covers almost every immigrant without legal status — indefinitely without bond,” reports Roll Call. “Hundreds of immigrants have challenged the policy in federal court since last year, and a majority of lower court judges have found the policy violates federal law and the Constitution.” That majority comprises nine of the 13 circuits. Only the Fifth and Eighth Circuits have ruled in favor of the administration.
Pro-illegal-immigration activists do two things: First, they conflate legal and illegal immigrants to gin up emotional sympathy for what Roll Call dubs “every immigrant without legal status.” Second, they ignore the fact that illegals who are caught, given a court date, and released routinely skip that court appearance, fading into “the shadows” and evading arrest again. They then become sympathetic “members of the community” — the beloved dishwasher or yard man — which makes them harder to remove, despite them breaking the law.
It’s like the old taunt, “You wouldn’t hit a guy with glasses, would you?”
The Trump administration aims to thwart this game and deport people who are in the U.S. illegally because federal law, duly passed by Congress, prescribes it. I’m not saying Team Trump gets it right every time; I don’t have nearly the faith in government that leftists do, regardless of who’s in charge.
I’m also not saying that many immigrants, even the illegal ones, aren’t decent people just trying to make a better life for themselves. But breaking federal law has consequences.
The Supreme Court has a mixed record on immigration in recent years. At the end of the last term, the justices correctly ruled that “in” means “in” and “temporary” means “temporary.” It was a big win for administration policies regarding asylum and Temporary Protected Status. However, the Court completely blew it on birthright citizenship, ruling that a newborn’s GPS coordinates matter more than the mother’s legal circumstances under the 14th Amendment. Chief Justice John Roberts and gang gave the thumbs up to anchor babies and birth tourists, and that will have dire consequences for our nation.
To sum it up, immigration policies — admission, detention, deportation, and the rest — are unlikely to be fully settled anytime soon. But immigration remains one of the administration’s greatest successes in Donald Trump’s second term. Voters would do well to remember that this fall.
