Border czar relishes deportations, tells Arizona lawmakers more needs to be done

PHOENIX — Border czar Tom Homan told Arizona lawmakers Tuesday that he and President Donald Trump are not at all sorry about working to round up and deport everyone who is here illegally, regardless of whether they are guilty of any other offense.

“I read every day about what a racist, hateful thing that is to say we have a mass deportation operation,’’ Homan told a joint session of the Republican-controlled Legislature. But he said it follows four years of mass illegal immigration under the Biden administration.

“There’s hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens in this nation with criminal records that are walking the streets,’’ he said. “We need to find every single one of them and get them out of this country.’’

He acknowledged that many of those who crossed the border made claims of asylum. And the law does allow that when individuals can show they face persecution from their own government because of race, religion, political affiliation or participation in a social group.

Homan said they demanded their right to see a judge.

“They got their due process,’’ he continued. “But, guess what? Nine out of 10 will end up with an order of removal because nine out of 10 made a fraudulent asylum claim. They don’t qualify.’’

And that is why there’s going to be mass deportation, he said.

“You can’t demand due process and ignore the decision at the end of that due process, which is an order of removal,’’ Homan told lawmakers. “The law requires it. That’s exactly what’s going to happen.’’

But at the same time, he also defended the president’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to summarily deport alleged gang members without due process to a high-security prison in El Salvador.

Homan derided efforts to have some of those individuals — including one who even the administration acknowledged was improperly deported — returned to the United States.

“I cannot believe any judge would order anybody (to) bring those two plane loads of terrorists back to this country,’’ he said.

Homan’s speech was given to a partly empty chamber.

Some House and Senate Democrats did not show up. And the remaining Democrats who were on the floor when he started speaking got up, held up signs with the names of people they said have been targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and then walked out.

That did not go unnoticed by Homan. “For the people who just walked out of the room, did they stand up and raise hell about trafficking of children?’’ he asked.

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He also cited the slaying last year of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student in Georgia, “assaulted by a scumbag pleading every minute to survive. An undocumented migrant from Venezuela who had sought asylum was convicted.”

“Tom Homan ain’t shutting up and Tom Homan ain’t going away,’’ he told lawmakers.

Homan said all illegal immigration problems are going to decline under the policies of the Trump administration.

He said the policies of the Biden administration resulted in a situation where 90% of those who crossed the border illegally or overstayed their visas should not be here. But since Trump took office, Homan said, border crossings are down 94%.

“President Trump did in five weeks what Joe Biden didn’t, wouldn’t, didn’t even attempt to do in four years, which proved he had the ability to do that all along,’’ Homan said, referring to the former president’s claims that he needed new laws to sharply curtail immigration.

And that 94%, he said, makes a difference.

“How many women ain’t being raped every day by the cartel?’’ Homan said. “How many children aren’t dying on the border every day? How many pounds of fentanyl is not getting into the country to kill Americans?’’

Homan acknowledged that last year — even before Trump took office — he would prioritize deporting criminals and those who are a threat to national security.

“But I’ve been clear from Day One: If you in the country illegally, you’re not off the table,’’ Homan told lawmakers. What that means, he said, is if ICE officers targeting criminals happen to come across someone whose only offense is being here illegally, “they’re coming, too.’’

“It’s not OK to be in this country illegally,’’ Homan said.

“And people hate on me for that?’’ he continued. “If you’re in the country illegally, you should be looking over your shoulder.’’

Homan also took a slap at “so-called sanctuary cities’’ that have policies of not cooperating with federal immigration officials. He said the explanation is that local officials don’t want to discourage members of the immigrant community from approaching police to report crimes.

“That is a bunch of garbage,’’ Homan said. “A victim and witness of crime don’t want the bad guy out there, either.’’

Homan also praised Arizona lawmakers for enacting measures designed to have local and state police assist in enforcing federal immigration law.

Those include Senate Bill 1164, which not only authorizes cooperation but mandates that the state prison and local jails honor “detainer’’ requests from ICE, holding people who would otherwise be released until they can be picked up for deportation. That measure also requires the attorney general, on request from any legislator, to investigate any public entity suspected of adopting any ordinance or practice that restricts cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

SB 1164 gained preliminary House approval on Monday and now awaits a roll-call vote. The Senate voted for it last month on a party-line vote.