Paul Cicala
EL PASO (KVIA) — President Trump’s Border Czar, Tom Homan, sat down with ABC-7’s Paul Cicala for an exclusive, 1-on-1 interview, after he spent two days in the El Paso-area visiting troops at Fort Bliss and Federal Agents along the border.
Here’s more from his 1-on-1 interview:
(Paul Cicala) -What was it like for you to get a first hand look at our border here in El Paso, along with the defense secretary, Pete Hedspeth?
(Tom Homan) “Look, I’ve been at El Paso border many times throughout my career, but, yesterday was something I’ve never seen before in my career.
So, you know, by the military on the border, standing shoulder to shoulder. Border patrol being a force multiplier, I think it was amazing. And, I can tell you El Paso sectors were locked down there and, the men and women, the border to have been overwhelmed for four years. Having the military on the border with them gives them some relief, but also secures the border, the highest level I’ve seen in a long time.
(Paul Cicala) And, Mr. Homan, when the Trump administration announced that ICE would, and could go into schools and the churches, some local leaders here in the El Paso area spoke out. And that included, the bishop of the El Paso diocese. And he said, quote, ‘mass deportations can never be reconciled with Christian principles or basic human decency’. How do you feel when you hear comments like this is particularly from somebody like a priest or in this case, the bishop?
(Tom Homan) “As a lifelong Catholic, he’s got problems that Catholic churches should be concentrating on, not our immigration enforcement.
That’s my personal opinion. But look at everybody’s missed messaging, what we did, the sense of location policy. ICE was the only federal law enforcement agency that had those policies. FBI walks in college campuses every day to arrest people. Southern DEA. So look what what it basically says is, if we have a significant public safety threat or national security threat, for instance, (if there’s an MS-13) in high school and we know he’s selling drug, we know he’s harming other other children at that school, & we’re going to go to arrest him. Doesn’t mean we’re doing a sweep of the high school. We’re not doing sweeps. We’re not doing sweeps to elementary school. We’re not going to walk in a church and do a large enforcement operation.
But when we have a public safety threat or national security threat, there’s no safe harbor. There’s sanctuary for them. So we’re going to go. We got to go. But you know the left is pushing this message out. We’re going to be willing to raid. Churches were raised because it’s simply not true.
(Paul Cicala) Should people, particularly in a border community like ours here in the El Paso and Las Cruces area, be worried about making sure they’re carrying papers, birth certificates, passports, you name it, in case one of the ICE crackdowns comes there way?
(Tom Homan) “I mean, should people worry about that? Will there be, in the next phases? Will there be, you know, more Border Patrol type stops and such like that? I wouldn’t worry about that to an extent, to really look, if you have a green cards of your record to carry, we first of all right. But again, we’re, we’re, we’re not doing area control, which means we’re not going to a large place.
They’re temporary. Show me your ideas. And that way we work. Everybody ice arrest is a targeted enforcement operation. They actually do what they call a fugitive operation sheet. They know exactly who they’re looking for pretty much where they’re going to find them. And other issues are the children in the house because they do a lot of investigation before they go arrest somebody.
So like right now, constant public safety threats and national security threats by something they want if you’re in the country illegally, not off the table,
(Paul Cicala) Also, we have elected officials here in El Paso and that includes the El Paso mayor, the county judge who have said that they’re necessarily they’re not necessarily going to concentrate on enforcing immigration policies.
What do you say to some of those local leaders and in border cities that are saying similar stuff?
(Tom Homan) “Well, look, I find it amazing that any elected mayor elect, a city councilman or governor does not want public safety threats removed from their community. That’s your number one responsibilities protection, the constituents. Constituents. So why not work with us and help us remove public safety threats from your community? Isn’t that their job?”
