Border Czar Tom Homan blasted critics after the Department of Homeland Security suspended non-essential traffic stops following the fatal shooting of a federal officer in Maine. The move prompted claims from some conservatives that the Trump administration was caving to the left and risking a drop in deportations. Not only is that claim ridiculous on its face, as fewer than 20 percent of ICE deportations stem from traffic stops, but Homan argued that eliminating one enforcement tactic will not derail the administration’s broader mission. He also blasted the media for pushing a false narrative, pointing to June’s record deportation numbers and arguing that, with full funding now in place, the administration’s mass deportation effort remains on track.
“Will this change on vehicle stops lower the rate of deportation during the pause?” a reporter asked the Border Czar.
“No, no. You know what? Let me address that for a minute. I’m sick and tired of reading about how the administration has lost their guts with, you know, mass deportations,” Homan said. “Do you know, June, last month, ICE arrested more aliens than any month in the history of the agency. So, you know, people say ICE is not serious about this job. Last month, the most aliens arrested in the history of the agency, more than last year, more than when you had the FBI, ATF, DEA, Border Patrol, ICE all out there, ICE by themselves, with their 287G partners, had the most arrests in the history of the agency.”
“Now, were numbers down for a few months? Yeah. Why? Because the department was shut down, right? Agents weren’t getting overtime pay. They weren’t getting travel. I mean, their travel cards were maxed out, so they couldn’t travel to operations,” he continued. “The targeting wasn’t being funded like it should have been. So the department was shut down, so of course the numbers are shut down.”
“So, you know, bottom line is, once we got the funding, numbers are going through the ceiling, like President Trump promised America.”
This comes after the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security issued a personal directive to halt non-critical traffic stops by ICE following a series of fatal officer-involved shootings. In each of these instances, the administration says the suspect attempted to strike the officer with their vehicle, though the broader public has questioned some of these cases. The move is expected to ensure the lives of ICE agents, American citizens, and illegal aliens remain protected as they should be.
