Tom Homan, the Trump administration's 'border czar' deployed to Minnesota after federal agents fatally shot two US citizen protesters, cautioned last year that an overly aggressive immigration enforcement approach could erode public support. In an interview for the forthcoming book Undue Process, Homan emphasised the need to prioritise criminal illegal immigrants to maintain the trust of the American people.
Homan told NBC's Julia Ainsley that focusing on 'criminal illegal aliens' would keep public faith, adding that enforcement must be carried out 'in a humane manner'. However, the Department of Homeland Security has since arrested hundreds of thousands of people, including US citizens, in what critics describe as an aggressive and often violent crackdown.
Figures released on Monday show that less than 14% of nearly 400,000 immigrants arrested by ICE in the first year of Trump's second term had charges or convictions for violent crimes, undermining the administration's claim that it targets only 'the worst of the worst'.
Homan was sent to Minneapolis after the removal of senior border patrol officer Gregory Bovino, who had become the public face of the crackdown. Despite Homan's recent announcement that 700 of 2,700 federal officers would leave the city, nationwide immigration actions show no significant slowdown.
In the interview, Homan defended 'collateral' arrests of undocumented individuals without criminal records, stating that anyone in the country illegally is subject to arrest. 'If we send a message that entering illegally is fine as long as you don't commit another crime, we can't do that,' he said.
