Press Briefing: Tom Homan Speaks to Reporters Outside the White House - July 20, 2026

Hi, Mr. Homan. Starting with what had happened this morning in New York City can you tell us more about the identity of the anti-ICE rider and then anything you know about the manifesto?

No, I just got apprized of that before I walked out here so I don't want to get ahead of the FBI. I don't know what changed since I walked out here so it's too early I'm not going to comment on it.

Sir --

-- Other than it's just another example of someone, you know, attacking ICE because of the constant messaging and vilification of the men and women of ICE.

Sir, will there be investigations into ICE agents who either kill people that they are pursuing or, um, are involved in some kind of violent altercation?

Of course there will be.

The New York Times is reporting that the FBI was told over the weekend that they will no longer investigate confrontations with immigration agents.

Well, let's be clear by confrontations, it's always been history that, you know, for instance, what happened in Minneapolis and Chicago and Newark, uh, prosecution of 111 cases, which are southern law enforcement officers, is usually handled by HSI, you know, criminal investigations FBI does get involved with them, but they're not leading.

But when it comes to shootings, FBI is always taking the lead. So I think that messaging is a little confusing. FBI is still going to continue to lead a shooting investigation as far as I'm concerned. I'm not aware of any change in policy and I think FBI and DHS actually pushed back on that story.

When it comes to body cameras, you're a fan of body cameras now, correct?

Yes. I've always been a fan of the body cameras.

Why did the administration, um, there was an executive order the president put forward when he came into office to rescind the Biden executive order that was mandating body cameras. Why the change now? Why is the administration --

Look, I'm a supporter -- I'm a supporter of body cameras. You know, uh, I know that body cameras exonerate officers almost 90 percent of the time. I want the American people to see what that ICE agent sees. You know, you can have cell phone cameras from across the street or cameras from the side or -- or city cameras.

I want the American people to see what that ICE officer sees when he takes action, and I -- and I think it's going to help ICE with -- with the false media that's out there about him.

But then why did the administration roll back what the Biden administration was trying to do to get body cameras on --

-- That's a question above me. I'm someone I came back and, you know, then when -- when Democrats shut the government down, I was a part of that negotiation to keep up on the Hill. They kept saying -- they kept going to Minnesota, all the mistakes they say happened in Minnesota. I don't think, you know, there's a lot of -- the mistakes they -- they claim in Minnesota, a lot of them were, I don't think mistakes.

But one thing they asked for, we want body cams. I said, well, there's money, $120 million in the bill you're holding up for me to buy the body cameras. So the reason there was not body cameras nationwide right now, because they shut the government down and anybody doesn't believe that, look it up. Now that we have the funding, body cameras have been purchased.

As of last week, they were training the trainers. Body cameras are being deployed throughout the country, training the trainers when will then go to, you know, Boston field office and train everybody, here's how you use it, here's how long you need to keep the tape. And it just wasn't the funding for the -- for the cameras either.

We had to hire a lot of people to handle the FOIAs because I'm sure you all you know FOIA on camera every day, right? So we got her people to handle the FOIAs. We got in the storage capability of -- of holding millions of minutes of video. That's expensive. But now we got the money's being implemented.

You just said that -- you just said that, um, in Minnesota, what happened wasn't a mistake with the shootings that --

-- I said -- Democrats claim all these mistakes were made and when I sat down, they said, well, they want a mask off now. We're not taking mask off.

You're saying it's not a mistake. Do you have an update on the investigation that the --

-- No, I don't. Look, I went to Minnesota I said day one, it was not a perfect operation. There were several chains of command. The -- the -- I had a -- I had a problem with the targeting. Uh, I went out there and made changes I brought in additional internal -- internal affairs agents in. We created one chain of command and -- and, you know, I see a lot of people out there saying that, you know, oh, we surrendered in Minnesota.

No we didn't. I -- we got agreements that keeps that city safer, keeps the officers safer and, and -- and probably keeps the [Inaudible] safer because the more aliens we can arrest in the safety and security of a jail means less criminal aliens being released to the street. So we're able to go up there and continue the operation.

But we had unprecedented agreements with less criminal aliens are hitting the street, which is good for that state, good for that city, and safer for our officers. That's a win across the board.

Mr. Homan, on the ICE officer -- on the Ice officer in Maine. Is there more any -- is there any more clarity on how he got his job, considering the vetting concerns that his wife has raised? Are there potential changes coming to the vetting process of ICE agents?

And that's a question for ICE. Um, that's under investigation. I'm sure that part now is part of the -- the investigation. We'll let the investigation play out. I'm not going to comment on the investigation is ongoing.

Sir, about the FBI. The New York Times found a review that 550 people --

[Crosstalk]

-- as the DHS secretary, what would you describe as the difference between his management style and the management style of his predecessor?

Let me say this, someone shared a X post this morning. There are people out there who want to attack this current administration. They don't think we're doing enough. There's an X post this morning that someone shared with me, someone named Mary Anne or Marian or somebody, the ICE was arresting 3,000 aliens a day last year.

No. Not once. Not a single time did we arrest 3,000 aliens and now they're saying we're arresting 2,000. We're hitting about 2,000 pretty steadily. Like I said, this weekend, I looked at the data, arrest about 40 percent over the same time period that we've been funded. Now, I've been frank from the beginning.

Numbers were down for a few months because the department was shut down. Of course, numbers won't go down when targeting less and officers, you know, less overtime and all those other reasons. When you -- when you shut, you know, the government down, there's going to be less do so and I was very honest from day one, the -- the numbers were down 12 to 16 percent, but now the numbers are trailing up 40 percent because we are fully funded.

ICE is out there doing their job. But -- but I'm really tired of the false narratives going out there about what this administration is doing. The numbers are up. Last month, June, highest numbers of arrests in the history of the agency.

How many?

Then I see people say, wow, you're combining CBP numbers with Coast Guard. No I didn't. The numbers I quoted this weekend were ICE numbers. So I wish people would do a little bit of research before they start attacking this administration what we're doing right now. Our numbers are higher than ever been, and I'm sick and tired of -- of people saying we're not doing enough.

That's an insult to every ICE agents, strapping up every day, working six and seven days a week to get this done. It's an insult. These men and women are acting professionally, they're out there making record numbers, and -- and people want to question numbers. You know, I guess that's your right but let's -- let's compare facts.

-- What was the exact number? I --

[Crosstalk]

-- about body cameras and the difference of the management style of those --

Me and Markwayne want to get along well and -- and, uh, and, you know, he cares about the mission. We -- we serve different roles ICE and CBP reports to Markwayne Mullin. I'm here. I help Stephen Miller. We -- we -- we develop strategies to send down to the program for implementation. So we got different roles but I think Markwayne Mullin is doing a good job.

[Crosstalk]

-- investigate these ICE agents if they confront people? That is -- that is what The New York Times is saying. That's what they're reporting is they have something that 550 people were -- had charges brought against them for assaulting federal officers. Of the more than 400 cases that were resolved, nearly half had unraveled.

You know it's going to help though? The body cameras that would -- you know, we -- they didn't have body cameras a lot of these confrontations happen. Again, I think body cameras are going to help. Look, again I'm not going to comment on these investigation.

So that's the answer? Not FBI investigating it, is what you're saying?

As far as I know there's been no change in policy. The FBI and DHS just respond to that story and didn't agree with it. Again, I'm not in the loop on that. I just tell you from my experience, FBI has always been involved with shooting investigations. HSI, they're the criminal investigation part of ICE. They do the majority investigations in 111, which is assault impeding an officer.

How are training procedures changing? You talked about training the trainers. How are those training procedures changing?

They're not changing the train the trainers for the cameras. How do you operate the camera? What's the requirements? When do you turn it on? When you turn it off? How quick do you need to store the data? How long should the data be stored? So there's a lot of -- lot of work into this and training the trainers.

Once they get fully trained, they go to the field office with the equipment and they implement and deploy it and tell people, here's how you use it and here's how you control it.

So what's the timeline then for -- what's the timeline then for every immigration agent to have a body camera?

As soon as possible if I had my way.

So you're satisfied with the training right now of ICE agents? Nothing needs to be improved? And it's procedure --

-- There's always -- there's always room for error. That's a loaded question. There's always room for improvement. Things change all the time. FBI updates their training. DEA updates their training. Every police department updates their training. Could ICE use -- look, I -- you can never be overtrained. I wish there was more training.

I think American people want the answer of when every ICE agent will be wearing a body camera. I know you said as soon as possible, but is there a timeline floating around within there because--

-- That's a question for ICE. I know they got the deployment scheduled and I know they got the equipment. That's a question for ICE. I'm not in the weeds that deep.

Mr. Homan, when should ICE agents be required to turn on their cameras? At all times during a traffic stop?

Yeah. Yes.

And what's the consequence if they don't? Could you say more about the quantity of ICE agents over the quality of the agents?

Say that again?

Is this administration more concerned about the numbers, the quantity of ICE administration over the following year [Inaudible]

No. I can't speak for everybody in the administration, but quality agents are very important. So it should be -- if are you going to give somebody a badge and gun they need to be the best they can be.

So are there going to be reevaluations done of the hiring?

That's the question for ICE.

Is there any other procedure or protocol on the ground changing? Stops.

He's already -- you know, the director of ICE decided that, you know, there needs to be at least one body camera on the scene. And again, I'm a big supporter of the body cameras and as more body cameras gets out there, they all happen.

That's the only change?

But let's be clear. You know, you can attack the men and women ICE all you want. It comes down to one simple fact, these people fail to comply with law enforcement. Even some of the major chiefs in this country who don't necessarily -- necessarily agree with this administration says you always comply with law enforcement.

But the hateful rhetoric that ICE isn't a real law enforcement agency. I see these signs that resist. ICE started, you know, let's abolish them. They're fascists. When you keep that hateful rhetoric for a year and a half, there's going to be that -- that -- that -- that percentage of that bar, that left population, that it's going to be emboldened to take action because they're not real law enforcement agency.

I should resist them. All they had to do is simply comply with law enforcement. If you don't like what law enforcement did, you then go to the courts, sue, call the ACLU, do whatever you want to do, but you should always comply with law enforcement. If they did, they'd be alive today. Now, I'm not going to comment on the investigation itself.

We'll wait for it to play out. This is about complying with law enforcement and a lot of the -- a lot of the negative, hateful and I said this a year ago, if a hateful rhetoric doesn't stop, there will be bloodshed and unfortunately, I was right. Now I'll tell you something else it's not over yet. Unless they keep attacking and -- and -- and miscommunicating what ICE does every day, calling them Nazis and comparing ICE to the Nazi regime.

Are you kidding me? And I'm not saying the -- the whole country is convinced, but there's going to be that population that's just going to embolden to do something stupid. And I'm afraid -- I'm afraid that we're going to bury an ICE agent. I'm afraid I'm going to hand another folded flag to a spouse or a child of an ICE agent for simply doing his job, and for any member of Congress to keep attacking ICE and calling the fascists and Nazis, I said a thousand times, if they're a Nazi for enforcing the law, what -- what -- what does that make them?

They wrote the law. We're not making this up we're enforcing laws they wrote and -- and that they appropriate us money to enforce. Now, I'll say it once again, if ICE agents acted inappropriately or illegal, they'll be held accountable just like they were held accountable in Minnesota. Everybody -- you know, guys, ICE agents are mom and dads too.

They don't hang their hat on a hook every day to do this job and it's just not attacking the ICE agents, attacking their spouses and children and no one knows that better than me. I can't even go get a quart of milk at a grocery store without a security detail. Why? Because I'm enforcing laws of this country.

It's pathetic and it's disgusting.

Thanks, Tom.

Thank you, Mr. Homan.