President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, responded to a question about how many more deportations are needed to bring the U.S. back to a country of legal citizens, saying, “millions.”
Speaking with Fox News’ Will Cain on Thursday, Homan pushed back on rumors that the administration is ramping down its immigration enforcement surges, saying he expects the deportation numbers to actually increase.
“We’re going to continue to surge resources, especially to sanctuary cities, because we know we have a problem there,” he said. “So, I expect the numbers to increase while the border numbers continue to decrease.”
Asked how many more deportations are needed, Homan said, “Millions. Look … I see it all the time, there’s 12 million illegal aliens in the country, we used 12 million 25 years ago, I think its well over 20 million. So, we’re going to do everything we can to arrest as many people as we can.”
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Pressed on whether the logistics of such large-scale deportation operations are possible, Homan responded, “I’ll give it one hell of a shot.”
“I mean, bottom line is we’re not going to give up on President Trump’s promise to the American people on mass deportations,” he continued.
Homan confirmed that the administration is hiring 10,000 more immigration enforcement agents. He said there are about 7,000 “on board” and 3,000 more going through training.
The border czar said he expressed his opinion to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin that the “vast majority” of these agents “need to go to sanctuary cities.”
“Why is that? We go to Florida, every sheriff, every [police] chief is working with us. They honor detainers, we’ve got less of a problem in states like that, Florida and Texas,” he explained. “However, in states that want to lock us out of jails, that refuse, sheriffs and chiefs, to work with us in any capacity, that’s where we know it’s a problem, because we know they are releasing public safety threats, illegal aliens every day.”
Homan recently issued a warning to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, vowing to “flood the zone” with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers despite her efforts to block federal operations.
He responded to Hochul’s claim that federal agents aren’t welcome in her state without permission and that she is not asking for help, by saying, “Well, Governor Hochul, I’m not asking either. I said it. We’re going to do it.”
“This is what we have to do because she forces this position. And we’re going to do it. They’re not going to stop us. They can put all the roadblocks they want, but we’re [going to] do this job,” he said.
Fox News Digital’s Madison Colombo contributed to this report.
