Border czar Tom Homan explained during an interview on CNN that there will be “collateral arrests” of illegal immigrants in sanctuary cities—a statement that stunned host Dana Bash.
“There’s going to be more collateral arrests in sanctuary cities because they forced us to go into the community and find the guy we’re looking for,” Homan said.
“When you release a public safety threat out of a sanctuary jail and they won’t give us access to him, that means we got to go to the neighborhood and find him, and we will find him, but when we find him, he may be with others,” Homan added. “Others that don’t have a criminal conviction and are in the country illegally. They will be arrested too.”
Homan said that’s the difference between the Trump administration and the previous one: “ICE is going to enforce the immigration law.”
As he went on to note, there’s nothing in the Immigration and Nationality Act stating an illegal immigrant must be convicted of a serious crime to be deported.
Surprised by his statement, Bash asked for clarification on what he was saying.
“Let me just make sure that I understand what you’re saying, because at first you said that the first targets are those with criminal records, but you are also saying that those who are undocumented in the U.S. who don’t have criminal records, people who are working in their communities, maybe even have spouses who are American citizens, they could be swept up by ICE today as well?” she asked.
“What I’m telling you is, when we go find our priority target, which is a criminal alien, if he’s with others in the United States illegally, we’re going to take enforcement action against him,” Homan replied. “We’re going to enforce the immigration law.”
Watch Dana Bash do a double-take in shock and horror as Tom Homan explains to her that an illegal alien doesn’t have to be convicted of a serious crime to face deportation.
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) January 21, 2025
Amazing stuff. pic.twitter.com/QdNAgOhyEe