Democrats walk out as Trump’s border czar defends mass deportations and spreads misinformation

The former acting director of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and appointed border czar under President Donald Trump was invited by Republican lawmakers to address a joint session of the state Legislature last week. 

Tom Homan portrayed the Trump administration’s “mass deportation operation” to be a success, claiming that the US will hold “total operational control” of the southern border for the first time in history. 

Taking pride in human rights violations

“He’s [Trump] a racist. I’m a racist, whatever,” Homan said just minutes into his address. 

The second Homan began speaking, Democrats stood and left the chamber—each holding sheets of paper with the names of individuals Homan has deported, detained, or disappeared. 

“I love it! Thank you for making my day. I love haters, they make my day every day,” Homan said once Democratic lawmakers made their exit. 

Republican lawmakers and various law enforcement figureheads, including former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, welcomed Homan with a standing ovation. 

“It’s disturbing that my colleagues are giving a platform to someone who has caused so much harm to our community,” Sen. Catherine Miranda, D-Laveen, said in a press release. “Tom Homan isn’t just deporting people, he’s responsible for kidnappings, disappearances, and the deportation of individuals for reasons as unjust as having tattoos, protesting, or being in the wrong place at the wrong time.” 

Innocent students, parents, targeted for abduction

International students have been targeted and arrested over their political activism and speech, in direct violation of their right to free speech. Hundreds of student visas have been revoked, including 50 at Arizona State University, and both US citizens and migrants with no criminal offenses—many with pending asylum cases—have been targeted by Homan’s agencies. 

An “administrative error” sent one Maryland father, who is a legal resident originally from El Salvador, back to his home country—despite an existing legal order prohibiting that, due to fears that his life would be in danger from the gang members he is now imprisoned with.  

Homan defended Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 wartime act that hasn’t been used since World War II, to deport Venezuelan immigrants who have been accused of being violent gang members to an El Salvador prison. Many of those accusations have been made without evidence, all have been sent to prison without trial, and since they have not been sentenced, are expected to remain incarcerated indefinitely.

The order claims the US is being invaded by Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang, using this as the basis for the deportation of more than 200 Venezuelan migrants, most of which do not have criminal records, to a maximum security prison in El Salvador. 

Under Homan’s leadership, ICE has arrested thousands of migrants without any criminal history and who are in the country legally. 

Trump’s next target: US citizens

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Trump’s stated desire to deport citizens—and Trump was recently caught on a hot mic telling El Salvador’s president and self-proclaimed dictator his intention to do just that..

“The homegrowns are next, the homegrowns,” Trump said. “You’ve got to build about five more places [mega prisons].” 

Homan has consistently indicated that he will do anything and everything to facilitate Trump’s mass deportation plans—no matter their constitutionality. 

“They came here to unsettle this country, to cause harm,” Homan said. “We will not apologize for sending two planeloads of terrorists out of this country.”

While Homan said ICE is focusing on deporting convicted criminals and those who pose national security threats despite evidence pointing to the contrary, he emphasized that anyone in the country without documentation will also be targeted. 

“If you’re in this country illegally, you should be looking over your shoulder. It’s not OK to enter this country illegally, it’s a crime,” Homan said.  

While it is not a crime to enter the United States without legal authorization, it is a civil violation of federal law—Homan, and the Trump administration has been treating it as such. They have penalized, detained, and deported those with varying degrees of legal status, including people on student and travel visas, green card holders, and refugees awaiting judges to rule on their request to seek asylum.

“I walked out in protest of this administration’s actions because they are illegal, immoral, and this is not what America should stand for,” Sen. Analise Ortiz, D-Maryvale, said in a press release.  “It is our job as lawmakers to ensure that people looking for a better life are still able to come and achieve the American dream, the way many of our parents and grandparents did.”

READ MORE: Arizona’s Legislature is creating a climate of fear for immigrant families

Homan, who created Trump’s family separation policy during his first term, said it is “sad and unfortunate” that families get separated at the border, but compared it to cases that result in children being removed from their families, such as child abuse. 

“Law enforcement does it thousands of times across this country, so there’s a good meaning behind it,” he said. 

Spreading misinformation

During his address, Homan made a number of claims deriding the Biden administration’s border policy—most of which were false. He cited no reliable evidence or source, or seemed to be vaguely correlated to nonexistent data that US Customs and Border Patrol does not collect. 

Here are five of the more glaring inaccuracies from Homan’s address:

1. Homan said the Trump administration had made more arrests during the first few months in office than the Biden administration had in four years, but immigration data does not reflect this claim.
2. Homan claimed illegal border crossings are down 94% in weeks, which is false. Border crossings are down by that amount from the same period last year.
3. He called Trump’s first term the “most secure border in my lifetime,” but PolitiFact has deemed this statement to be ‘mostly false.’
4.  Homan touted his low “gotaway” numbers, a term used to describe people who cross the border without being stopped, claiming the Biden administration averaged 12,000 a day—a figure that is blatantly false. 
5. Homan also suggested that immigrants’ asylum claims are not a good enough reason for them to be entering the US, claiming that 9 out of 10 asylum claims are fraud—a figure that is false.

“I know I got a lot of haters in this room, but I don’t give a shit. We’re gonna get this job done with no apologies,” Homan said.