Border czar Tom Homan reacts to videos appearing to show ICE detaining US citizens

President Trump is doubling down on his efforts to restrict both illegal and legal immigration to the U.S. and launching new ICE raids on Democratic cities after this tirade against Somali immigrants in Minnesota. I don't want them in our country, I'll be honest with you.

Somebody would say, oh that's not politically correct. I don't care. I don't want them in our country. We're going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country.

I know.

Here with me now is President Trump's borders are Tom Homan. Thank you so much for being here this morning, sir. I do want to start with the new ice raids in Minnesota. They are sparking widespread fear and uncertainty among people in the Somali community in the Twin Cities. Now, that Somali community in Minnesota is about 80,000 people. The vast majority are U.S. citizens or legal residents.

So what is the reason for sending ice there?

Well, look, we also know there's a large illegal Somali community there. There's illegal alien community, a large illegal alien community there. You know, if you're a US citizen, you know, you have nothing to fear. We're looking for criminal aliens. And also, if you're a resident alien, you have a, you know, like a felony conviction by statute, you could be set up for deportation.

So we're looking for public safety threats, national security threats, and illegal aliens. Nothing's changed, Dana, from day one. I've talked to several

state and local officials who've said that the number of Somali immigrants who are living in the U.S. illegally there is very, very small and that this is about scaring people more than it is about arresting criminals. So what have you actually accomplished with this operation so far in Minnesota?

Well, we're just starting. And I disagree with the fact that people, even we don't know how many illegal Somalis there are because remember in the last four years in Joe Biden, there's over 2 million gotaways, known gotaways, people caught on video, drone traffic or sensor traffic

that crossed the border illegally and weren't apprehended, weren't vetted. And so, you know, what President Trump's doing is fixing the last four years of the open border where millions of people are released in this country, many we don't know who they are.

So we're gonna do the same thing in the twin cities we've done across the nation. We're gonna focus on those illegal, alien public safety threats in these cities. And you know if they weren't a sanctuary city, I mean many of these people would be apprehended in safety and security of the county jail, but because you're a sanctuary city, we got to send more resources there to flood the zone because it takes a whole team to find

somebody in the community where it would take one agent to arrest one bad guy in a county jail. So this is exactly what President Trump promised American people

are going to do and that's what we're doing. So you are confident that once this operation is over in Minneapolis and the Twin Cities, you are confident that you will unearth many more illegal immigrants in the Somali community than people who are there, local officials, state officials believe actually exist?

Look, we're going to arrest every illegal alien that we find there. believe actually exist?

Look, we're going to arrest every illegal alien that we find there, but again, we're going to prioritize the public safety threats, national security threats. These are target enforcement operations. And, you know, the success has been proven in Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago, North Carolina. I mean, every city we've hit, we've arrested a lot of criminal, illegal aliens. I looked at the numbers today. You know, by the end of this calendar year will be around 600,000 deportation in in the majority of

them being public safety threats.

Minneapolis,

the city and a councilman there in particular Jamal Oseman, who was born in Somalia, told CNN that quote Somali citizens have been stopped on the street, asked to provide was born in Somalia, told Somali citizens have been asked to provide documen

never thought he'd have t their passports around be Somali are ice agents sto they look quote unquote S

not. You know, the law agents are trained in Fourth Amendment training every six months. Border Patrol is trained in Fourth Amendment training. They stop. You can detain and question people for a short period of time based on reasonable suspicion.

And what is that suspicion?

That's what federal statute says.

Is it based on how they look?

No, their appearance alone can't raise reasonable suspicion. It's articulable facts, a lot of different facts taking consideration. And the Supreme Court just backed the Trump administration up on this. I know a lot of the media says, oh, the Supreme Court just justified racial profiling. That's not what the Supreme Court said. Supreme Court said they agree with the way these operations are being conducted because the standard of reasonable

suspicion is being used by both ICE and the Border Patrol in the interior operations.

Mr. Homan, the President said very clearly this week that he doesn't want Somali immigrants in America. He called them garbage. Is that the real reason this operation is happening in the Somali community?

No, I think President Trump's referring to public safety threats as a national security this operation is happening in the Somali community?

Now I think President Trump's referring to public safety threats as national security threats from Somalia and every other country.

Well he didn't say that, he said the whole, he talked about the whole community.

Well look, I'm not aware what the President Trump was thinking when he said that, but I agree with President Trump. From day one he has said, we are concentrating on public safety threats and national security threats. He was pulling the Oval Office to run the biggest deportation operation this country has ever seen. That's exactly what we're doing. That's what American people voted for.

So, you know, there's numerous countries that President Trump's, you know, is looking at. Everybody that came out of this country makes their own vetted property. Some of these countries don't have the proper systems in place to totally vet somebody, so we don't know who they really are. So President Trump's taking upon himself and this administration to make sure anybody that came to this country illegally that we find, and those that came

into a vetting process that wasn't, that weren't properly vetted, they don't have the database and information to ensure they're properly vetted, that we're gonna re-look at those cases and make sure they're properly vetted and we have all the data we have from them. Some of these countries don't have the databases we have. Some of these countries don't even do the proper checks

before they issue a passport to their citizens to come to this country. So President Trump's doing the right thing. Make sure everybody that came in legally came in through proper vetting, especially from countries that are related to terrorism or are somehow related to high numbers of overstays

or high number of criminal aliens in this country. That's what he's doing. He's protecting America, and I agree with 100% what he's doing, Dana.

The Department of Homeland Security posted on social media this week that ICE does not arrest or depart U.S. citizens. Just the other day, I want to give you, show you some video. There was an incident of masked ICE agents targeting a 22-year-old mother in New Orleans, chasing her to her home, even though she told them she was a U.S. citizen.

And then there was this video, which I am actually gonna show you. It was an incident in the state of Florida.

I'm a US citizen, please help me! This is a family!

Now she was released once they found her driver's license in her car. That said, she was in fact a US citizen. So if ICE says it doesn't arrest US citizens, why do we keep seeing incidents like the one I just played, so aggressively pursuing people as they say

they are lawfully in America?

Well, a couple of things. First of all, I started as a border patrol agent in 1984. Through my nearly four decades of work, I can't tell you how many times an illegal alien claimed to be a US citizen. Happens all the time.

But it's getting back to what I just said. Reasonable suspicion. If they have reasonable suspicion of stopping and questioning somebody, and shortly holding them and detaining them briefly for questioning, if they have reasonable suspicion, they can stop.

So do I think there's been zero U.S. citizens that have been detained for questioning because reasonable suspicion said they may be in the country, they may have an issue with that? But as soon as that questioning is over, if they're a U.S. citizen, they'd be released. It takes probable cause to arrest somebody and actually, you know, transport and take them into custody. So, you know, I'm not aware of the specific cases, Dana.

I'm not there, but I'm going to have faith that the ICE agents are gathering articulable facts for reasonable suspicion to detain somebody and question them.

So there's reasonable suspicion that you're talking about. There is releasing somebody once they're comfortable that they are a U.S. citizen. And then there's just the aggressive tactics that we are seeing in video after video. You're comfortable with those tactics that we're all seeing with our own eyes?

Look, threats on ICE officers are up 1,200 percent. They're being doxed on social media, they're getting death threats every day. They've been attacked, They've been shot at. And, you know, these officers out there are looking for the worst of the worst. So they're protecting themselves. And I think they're following the law.

And if any ICE officer board-collegiate acts out of policy or does something inappropriate, they'll be held accountable. But we've got to remember, I mean, they're under attack and we're at a place in this country where all of a sudden the ones who enforce the law are the bad guys and the ones who broke the law are the victims. I'm going to trust the men and women of ICE and Borbatto who have been trained very well to do the right thing, but I'll say again, if someone does something inappropriate,

out of policy, illegal, they need to be held accountable. I simply think I haven't seen that and I can I'm not in every arrest. I'm not in every operation I trust the men and women of Iceland Borbital do the right thing Tom Holman. Thank you so much for being here this morning

I appreciate it I appreciate it

Thank you