Tom Homan has dismissed concerns that President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration crusade continues to ensnare those who are not in the country illegally.
“You just said that there are ‘collateral arrests’ and that is sparking fear in communities where people are … scared to go out,” CNN host Dana Bash said on State of the Union Sunday. “Do you have compassion for those people who are seeing what‘s going on, hearing you speak, seeing what‘s happening in their neighborhoods?”
Homan deflected, saying that “collateral arrests” of U.S. citizens and legal immigrants could be avoided if Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were allowed to operate in jails, which is forbidden in “sanctuary cities” that do not cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
“If you want less collateral arrests, let us in the jail,” Homan said. “We want to arrest a bad guy in the safety and security of the county jail. But sanctuary cities release them into the community, which means we‘ve got to go into the community and find them.”
Taking a page from Trump’s playbook, Homan blamed former President Joe Biden, claiming the previous administration had released undocumented immigrants not accused of serious crimes from jails and that this was why ICE agents have “to go into the community and find them.”
“We‘re not going to be like the last administration who told ICE you can‘t arrest somebody for simply being here illegally,” Homan said. “They‘ve got to be convicted of a serious offense.”
Homan drew fire for saying on Fox News on Friday that ICE officers “don’t need probable cause” to arrest someone; they only need “reasonable suspicion” based on “their location, their occupation, their physical appearance, their actions.” The remark invited criticism that ICE is engaging in widespread racial profiling.
Bash also asked Homan about the death of an immigrant who was fleeing ICE agents.
Farmer Jaime Alanis Garcia, 57, broke his neck and skull when he fell 30 feet from a greenhouse at a licensed cannabis factory in California on Thursday.
Homan said the death was “sad” and “unfortunate” but was quick to clarify that Garcia “wasn’t in ICE custody and ICE did not have hands on this person.” He deflected blame for the death, claiming that Garcia died during an arrest as part of an investigation into child trafficking and child labor rather than during an ICE raid.
The administration set a goal of 3,000 immigration arrests in late May. The resulting sweeps by ICE sparked widespread demonstrations acoss the country. Trump called in 4,000 members of the National Guard and 700 Marines to Los Angeles in June over the objections of Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The post CNN Host Corners Tom Homan: ‘Do You Have Compassion?’ appeared first on The Daily Beast.
