Homan: Border crossings down, arrests up, ICE finding missing children

U.S. Border Czar Tom Homan addressed a group of Republican lawyers at a national policy conference Friday about the status of President Donald Trump’s three primary goals on illegal immigration.

The president gave Homan three main objectives as the administration’s border czar: To secure the border, to spearhead “the biggest deportation operation the country’s ever seen” and to find the over 290,000 noncitizen children the Department of Homeland Security had reported missing in May 2024.

There has been a 96.7% decrease in illegal border crossings and the drug cartels are “going broke,” according to Homan.

Border crossings are at the lowest they’ve been in American history, Homan told those gathered.

At times during former President Joe Biden’s administration, there were over 12,000 people crossing the border illegally per day, with as many as 1,800 “gotaways” – people detected entering the U.S. illegally between ports of entry but not apprehended by border patrol. Homan said there had been 171 illegal border crossings so far that Friday with 37 gotaways.

When it comes to deportation, Homan said the administration’s philosophy is simple. Federal agents often find noncitizens together, gathering as friends, family or involved in illicit activities. And while some may not be involved in criminal activity, if they came to the country illegally, they will be deported, according to Homan.

“What’s the quota? Arrest every one you see,” Homan said, saying objections to their arrest were “bulls**t.” Several judges have blocked Trump's deportation efforts after lawsuits were filed arguing federal authorities were not allowing for due process.

The administration also plans to ramp up ICE’s presence in sanctuary cities, and Homan promised an increase in arrests across the country.

“We’re going to flood the zone,” increasing teams and targeting specific areas, Homan said of sanctuary cities, adding the administration would do the opposite of what they wanted because the cities “forced them there.”

As for the children who’ve gone missing, Homan said they’ve found several thousand so far. The Biden administration admitted that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement didn’t have the resources to properly vet noncitizen children’s sponsors – adults ICE places the children with who have some connection to them, whether family or not, who become their caretakers for a time. The agency also admitted to not knowing where over 290,000 of these children were, as it was unable to keep up with all of their records.

“Some were perfectly safe, and some weren’t,” Homan said. Federal agents rescued one girl who was 14, living with two adult men, who was pregnant.

Homan credited the government’s progress to the president, saying America has a president who has the courage to do what is needed to address the border crisis and who also thinks “outside the box.” Homan said there’s been a whole-of-government approach to the illegal immigration issue, something he has never seen on this scale across his career.