Trump’s ‘border czar’ Homan promises to ‘flood the zone’ & send more agents to blue cities

Tom Homan, the White House’s so-called “border czar,” is sticking to his pugnacious stance on deportations, promising to “flood the zone” with immigration agents in cities that limit cooperation with federal law enforcement.

During his opening keynote at the Border Security Expo in Phoenix on Tuesday, a room packed with officials from the Department of Homeland Security and people from the defense and surveillance industry, Homan blamed the Biden administration for “mass deportation.” 

For years, the convention — held in Phoenix and later in San Antonio — has served as a temporary showroom for border technology, and this year, the event featured new drones, ubiquitous surveillance towers, and a popular virtual training simulator, where attendees could fight through way through scenarios against a virtual projected background.

Last year, former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem spoke at
the expo, but Markwayne Mullins—newly installed after
Noem’s ouster—decided not to attend the convention, sending instead
former ICE cop Homan. 

Homan said he would send more U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to New York because the state refused to enter into a 287(g) agreement with the agency, which delegates some authority to local law enforcement and used to be a voluntary program sold as a benefit to local police rather than a cudgel against state governments.

“We’re going to flood the zone. You’re going to see more ICE agents than you’ve seen before,” Homan said. “You forced us in this position.”

Similar arguments were made in the weeks before ICE raids—coupled with Border Patrol—in Minneapolis, and the agency struggled to make arrests against a backdrop of widespread protests‚—marked by the shooting deaths of two civilians by federal agents. In the following weeks, the public’s perception of ICE collapsed and has not recovered. 

Following the bloodshed, Homan asked to “tamp down” the rhetoric, and drew down the number of ICE agents in Minneapolis.

“People want to say this mass
deportation is a cruel term,” Homan said. “You know, it’s inhumane and
it’s it’s cruel and racist—the reason we have mass deportation is a
response to mass illegal immigration, historic mass illegal immigration
because what they did in four years on the border, it requires a mass
deportation.

Homan claimed that nearly 9 of 10 people didn’t show up to asylum court, and end up with an order of removal. 

“They’re
not asylum seekers, are not seeking protection, because of fear of
persecution from the home country because of race, religion, political
affiliation. They’re coming here for better life. And I get that. I
understand that,” he said.

However, long-term data from the American
Immigration Council reviewing nearly 11 years of immigration court data
through 2021, showed that more than 83 percent of people
appeared at asylum court, and those who failed to appear did not
receive appropriate notice, or faced some hardship coming to court. During the Biden administration, in absentia orders have ramped up, and this has only accelerated under Trump, as ICE officers have invaded courthouses and arrested migrants seeking court hearings.

Further,
among immigrants with legal representation, this climbed as high as 98
percent.  During the Biden administration, the number of cases closed by
courts due to in absentia rulings—made after people failed to
appear—rapidly increased from 2021 through 2024—but most people attempt
to follow the court process.

Homan trotted out a well-worn line
that people who came to the U.S. and sought asylum and made “false
claims” have “cheated the system” by putting themselves in the “front of
the line.”

He also rejected a long-standing structure of ICE
prioritizing immigrants—a policy he followed under the Obama
administration—by focusing on people who committed major crimes, and
recent arrivals while bypassing long-established families.

“The
reason I say no one’s off the table is because of this,” he said.
“Because if you want to send the message to the whole world, “you can
enter this country, don’t worry about it, as long as you don’t commit
another crime, no one’s looking for it.” If that’s a message we send,
we’re never gonna fix this problem. We’re nation of laws.”

“It’s
a crime to be in this country illegally, ” Homan said. However, in the
2010  Supreme Court decision over Arizona “show me your papers law”
Surpreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy reminded law enforcement officers
like Homan that “as a general rule, it is not a crime for a removable
alien to remain present in the United States.”

“We’re a welcoming
country. We welcome more refugees and immigrants in this country than
every other country on the face of the earth. So don’t to hear about
this crude and callous country. It’s a very giving country, but we got
to have standards. You’ve got to have rules,” he said.

Homan was followed by a panel of experts on the “state of the border,” including Rodney Scott, the commissioner for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Todd Lyons, the outgoing acting head of ICE, Chris Hotltzer, the executive director for CBP, and John Morris, the chief patrol agent for the Tucson Sector—which covers Arizona from the Yuma County line to New Mexico. 

‘We are actually removing people to countries that I didn’t even know existed’

At some points, the panel focused on the successes of the agencies to mitigate border crossings and marked a kind of victory lap, building on last year, as apprehensions across the U.S.-Mexico border have collapsed.

During the panel, Lyons defended his agency’s practice of flying people from the U.S. to a third country because they cannot be easily deported home. He called it a “huge game-changer” despite consistent and pervasive legal challenges.

“Now we are actually removing people to countries that I didn’t even know existed,” Lyons said, referring to destinations in Africa where his agency has flown people. Lyons, a tough-talking New York cop not known for his geography knowledge used his platform last year to urge ICE to become more like Amazon Prime as it ships people across the nation for deportation, and under his tenure deportation flights have accelerated.

As Human Rights Watch noted, in March, the Trump administration removed people on 225 flights heading to 46 countries, removing people to new countries, including Moldova, Myanmar and Thailand. Flights also headed to Tajikistan, Belize, Togo, and Trinidad and Tobago. And, these “record” flights occurred despite the federal shutdown.

The agency has attempted to use so-called third party country agreements to send people who cannot not be returned home under U.S. and international law. This includes people who have successfully sought protection because of measures like the Convention Against Torture and asylum.

The Trump administration has also relied on offshore detention facilities at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo.

Last November, the U.S. announced “safe third country” agreements with the governments of Canada, Guatemala, Honduras, Uganda, Belize, and Paraguay. And, the U.S. already had “Asylum Cooperative Agreements” with Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, created under the previous Trump administration allowing the United States to send people to those countries rather than giving them asylum here.

El Salvador agreed to do this after a cash payment of $4.7 million, allowing the U.S. to send Venezuelan men there to held at the country’s notorious prison. And, Ghana agreed to a similar arrangement in exchange for sanction relief.

Meanwhile, Scott laid out how the agency is using new surveillance technology, data-mining, and investigation through new “task forces” to rapidly track, target and arrest people in the country illegally. Scott said using this data, his agents will target whole families.

“Any illegal alien out there, we’re going to go find your entire family, your network, anybody you spoke to on a phone,” said Scott. “We’re going to take out that entire network,” he said, “not just what you would think cartel, but literally, one arrest at the border can result in five or six more on the interior. And that that is getting better and better every day.” 

Hotltzer who mans the U.S. border crossings made a similar claim, arguing there’s been a cultural shift, and now once there’s a seizure of drugs, that information is immediately turned over to other agencies to keep targeting networks through the National Targeting Center.

Lyons implied that similar methods are using to scrub information from social media on ICE agents and their families.

John Morris, the new chief of the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector, reminded the crowd that during the Bush era, agents used to catch almost a million and a half people a year. “And right now, our running seven-day average is like 62 right? It’s truly amazing. What you know when you have the support of an administration leadership industry, you can get technology, get infrastructure, and you can get the hiring done.” 

He said Border Patrol can better work with ICE to run interviews and run down a stash house using a vehicle. 

“I mean, we’re dang close to pretty much knowing everything that comes across,” the border. “At least we have a much better idea, because just sometimes we can’t get there in time, or something does get away, but at least we know what got away. And we can leverage those partners.” 

“I’m not afraid to say, in my 30 years of being in the Border Patrol, I never thought we would get here,” he said. “All it really took was an administration says, ‘hey, go do it.'” 

“The laws already existed, ” Morris said.

Morris highlighted new technology added, comparing his early days in 1996 to today. “It’s like describing the Starship Enterprise versus the Wright Flyer from Kitty Hawk. That’s how far we have come.” 

He said the sector, where he was tapped to lead in December, can now use sensors, integrated fixed towers, and other elements to look for and target people moving across the border.

“So instead of an agent having to come down to the border, get out of his vehicle and start following footprints, well, now we get a good vector from—whether it’s an aerostat, some type of unmanned aerial system, some type of tower, what have you—and bring those agents right there for direct intercept.” Morris said. “It’s safer for the agents, certainly safer for the public that we’re working around.”

An audience member asked Scott and Lyons about ProPublica’s reporting that 170 citizens were held by immigration agents, and asked what they would do to “make sure this doesn’t happen.”

Scott claimed these citizens were arrested because they smuggled weapons, had narcotics violations, or were “aiding and abetting illegal aliens.” However, the report’s focus was on people held because agents questioned their citizenship, or people who were charged with interfering with federal agents and those cases “wilted.”

“Everybody on this stage has arrested us citizens, and we’ll keep doing that,” Scott said. ” Just because you’re [U.S. citizen] doesn’t mean that you can commit crimes in this country.” He also said if there are allegations against CBP or ICE they each have an Office of Professional Responsibility, along with DHS Office of OIG investigator general, and the FBI. “They’re all looked into, but I’m going to keep arresting anybody that violates the law, whether they’re US citizen or not.”

Lyons noted that until recently, ICE held back its use-of-force statistics and complained that until recently, ICE agents were “like Charlie Brown.” 

But, now “if you put your hands on a law enforcement officer in the middle of a law enforcement operation, you’re going to get arrested,” he said. “We’re actually gonna stand up for ourselves.”

Outside the Phoenix Convention Center, a
small group of protesters stood on the sidewalk, including a group
urging for a union at the venue. Among them was Democratic U.S. Rep.
Yassamin Ansari, the Arizona Mirror reported.

This year, the event was muted despite a flood of more than $170
billion funneled to Homeland Security, and its component
agencies—including U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S.
Customs and Border Protection—through last summer’s One Big Beautiful
Bill.

Another attendee remarked, it was clear that the funding
has already been allocated, and “we’re just here for the scraps.”
Another attendee said CBP and other parts of DHS were putting too much
toward large companies, who are selling the agencies on “equipment they
don’t want and don’t need.”

“They’re making mistakes the
Defense Department has already learned, and relearned,” she said. She
nodded toward some companies selling AI-powered solutions that didn’t
work, she said, to officials who didn’t understand the technology.

During the convention, a woman launched a drone and sent it hurtling into the ceiling, sending parts raining down onto the carpet. One attendee, who sold his own drones laughed, “Well, ours won’t do that, we have collision avoidance.”

As people spoke, a rapid staccato erupted from the nearby Virtutec
booth, where people fired simulated bullets at a projection screen
showing scenarios, including a firing range, a backyard BBQ turned
standoff, and a school shooting. Julie Booth, an attendee from
Nashville, Tenn., leaned into an AR-15  and swung the barrel around,
pretending to move with a police officer in the scenario. She crossed,
and the officer in the virtual screen took a round, and fell. Booth
continued forward, killing two shooters before she was confronted by a
teen boy holding his girlfriend hostage. Facing a no-win scenario, Booth
took a shot and the hostage and the teen shooter died in an instant.

The
trainer walked her back through her mistakes,  showing moments she’d
missed. She walked out into the main showroom. “That got my blood
bumping. I’m glad that wasn’t real,” she said.