Border czar Tom Homan defended Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s temporary halt of most car stops, saying the agency won’t bring down its number of arrests in the meantime.
Homan characterized Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and acting ICE Director David Venturella’s pause on the vehicle stops as “short,” telling reporters on Tuesday that he expects agents will resume the tactic in a couple weeks.
“I wouldn’t even call this a bump in the road — this is going to be a short-term review, so ICE feels comfortable that their agents are safe, they’re doing the right thing and get back to doing what they do best,” he told Fox News on Tuesday.
ICE agents fatally shot two drivers within a week: a Mexican immigrant in Houston on July 7 and a Colombian national in Biddeford, Maine, on Monday. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) urged Mullin that night to cease all non-urgent vehicle stops.
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Homan said the administration remains committed to carrying out mass deportations, adding that ICE completed the most arrests in its history last month. Agents can arrest people in other settings so the number of arrests won’t decrease under the pause, Homan said.
“I’ve done this a long time,” he told reporters in front of the White House. “You can certainly arrest the alien before he gets in the car and he leaves home. You can certainly arrest the alien when he parks the car, where he gets to where he’s going.”
Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) called Homan’s Fox News comments disgraceful in a post on X.
“Two people have been killed by ICE in just the past week. Both were fathers. They’ll never see their children again,” Pingree wrote. “But to Tom Homan, they’re ‘not even a bump in the road.’ What a disgusting thing to say.”
Another Mexican man died in St. Augustine, Fla., Tuesday morning after being struck by a tractor-trailer as he ran from ICE and Homeland Security Investigations agents, according to a statement from Master Sgt. Dylan L. Bryan with the Florida Highway Patrol.
Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) told NOTUS the recent deaths showed how the Trump administration’s deportation policies put everyone at risk.
“ICE continues to hide information from us, refuses to tell the truth in many of these cases, but soon enough we’re going to have a Democratic House majority that’s going to force them to answer these questions,” he said.
House Homeland Security Committee Chair Andrew Garbarino (R-New York) has requested DHS brief members on ICE’s use-of-force policies and body camera deployment, a committee aide said in a statement. The agents involved in the Houston and Maine shootings didn’t have body cameras because of the government shutdown, DHS said in a statement. The department shutdown ended in April.
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