Is this all for me?
All for you.
All right.
Mr. Homan, good morning, Mark Stone from Sky News. We've spent the past couple of weeks in and around Washington DC neighborhoods like Mount Pleasant where we've been talking to the Latino community. And one thing that we've discovered is that there are a lot of very frightened people there, moms, dads, kids, grandparents who are too frightened to leave their home.
These are -- a lot of them are illegally here. I want to know from you what your plan is because these are people who have been enabled by America to be here for --
Enabled by America. What does that mean?
Well, I'll tell you what it means, sir. It means that they have been -- that they have healthcare, they have ID cards. If they can drive, they have driving licenses. They have -- they pay tax, they have jobs. And so, over a period of a long time, America has kind of welcomed them and enabled them to be here.
And because of a change of policy, which we all understand, are you now saying that all of them must leave and that you will round them up and detain them?
Well, they cheated the system, right? Because there's millions of people standing in line, taking their tests, doing their background investigation, paying their fees to be part of the greatest nation on earth. You're talking about people that cheated the system. No, it's not OK to be in this country illegally.
Now let me be clear, President Trump's been clear, we're going to prioritize public safety threats and national security threats and data shows that's exactly what we're doing. But if you want me to sit here and bless someone being here illegally, I'm not going to do that because they cheated the system.
What they should do is take advantage of the CBP home app, make arrangements, put their affairs together and leave because that would leave them an opportunity to come back under a legal program. For instance, if they have a US citizen child, their US citizen child can petition for them someday if they turn 18. Do the right thing and take the CBP home app and do the right thing, come back to this country legally.
So, what would you say to the 30-year-old mother that we've spoken to from Mexico, been here 16 years? Here illegally but pays her taxes, lives her life here and, as I say, has been enabled by America to be here. What would you say to her? She hasn't left her home for over two weeks now. She can't take her own children to school in the neighborhood because she is so frightened of being rounded up by ICE agents.
Well, bottom line is, I just said, we're prioritizing public safety threats and national security threats. We're not out sweeping neighborhoods. We're not out looking for non-criminals. Now if we run into a non-criminal during these operations, they absolutely are going to be taken into custody because we're not going to do what the Biden administration did and tell ICE, you can't enforce immigration law.
Let me explain to you why we have the most secure border in the nation's history today is because of President Trump's executive orders. First of all, it's because the men and women of Border Patrol are finally doing their job. And one of the reasons we have the most secure border in the nation's history, which gives us the highest national security we've ever had, because now we know who's coming and what's coming in and so forth.
It's because of what ICE is doing. We're sending a message to the whole world -- there are consequences for violating our laws. You're asking me to tell ICE, don't enforce the law. Should DEA enforce their laws? Should FBI enforce their laws? Should ATF enforce their laws? ICE is going to enforce the laws.
That's what President Trump got elected for and that's what we're doing.
And lastly -- lastly, can I just say?
Yes ma'am.
[Crosstalk]
-- reported that ICE ERO doesn't have to fill out worksheets ahead of ops anymore? Can you confirm that? And how does it --
I'm not aware of that. I'll have to run that down. I'm not aware of that.
OK. And can you give an update on Chicago? How many arrests were made since --
I haven't looked at the numbers this morning. I went straight to the tent here. So, I look at the numbers every morning. I have not looked at the numbers yet this morning. I haven't looked at them, so I don't know. I know that I just read off on a show I just did of four serious people that were arrested in Chicago.
Let me tell you what's happened in Boston where Governor Healey got on TV this morning talked about ICE doing operations at churches which is a bold-faced lie. Four people out of many we arrested in Boston the last few days. Victor Gomez Perez, a 33 year-old-criminal alien from Guatemala, with charges for aggravated rape, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, indecent assault and battery on a victim 14 years or older, assault and battery on a police officer and a conviction for assault.
They arrested Kelly Espinosa Viana, a 33-year-old -- 34-year-old criminal alien from Colombia with charges of aggravated assault on a pregnant victim. They arrested Joshua Gonzalez Baez, a 23-year-old criminal alien from Dominican Republic, with pending charges for trafficking heroin, morphine, opium, resisting arrest by an officer, disorderly conduct and drug distribution.
They arrested Samuel Barrera, a 20-year-old criminal illegal alien from Guatemala with pending charges for assault and battery on a child. This is what ICE is doing across the country. They're targeting the worst of the worst and they're making this country safe again. President Trump promised the American people he'd make this country safe again.
Every public safety threat, every national security threat ICE has taken off the street makes that community safer. Shame on Governor Healey and Mayor Wu -- shame on both of them. They should be calling the White House, thanking President Trump, thanking ICE for making their communities safer. But instead, they go on national TV and lie about ICE and make these accusations.
That is a big part of the reason why there's a 1,000 percent increase in assaults on ICE agents. Facts matter and that's why I stop here every day and talk to you all, to get the facts out there. The men and women of ICE -- they're mothers and fathers too. They don't hang their hearts on a hook when they come to work every day.
They put themselves in harm's way to go look for the worst of the worst. And we've got hateful rhetoric not only coming from governors and mayors who are pushing a false narrative, but members of Congress who are comparing the terrorists and Nazis. And bottom line is, if ICE is Nazis for enforcing immigration laws, what does that make them?
They broke the law. ICE isn't making this up. They're enforcing the laws enacted by Congress that they are funded to do. And it's the same thing we've done for decades. I started in 1984. The difference is the last four years there was no immigration enforcement. ICE agents were told not to enforce the law.
Border Patrol agents were processing people and releasing them in the country, not securing the border. Now that we're back to doing business, back to securing this nation and making this country safe again, people on the left are going nuts. The data speaks for itself. God bless the men and women of ICE and Border Patrol.
I love each and every one of them because they're separate. How many of you all want to put a gun on your hip and stand on a dirt trail at 3:00 in the morning when a sensor goes off? Is it just an illegal alien looking for a better life? Or is it a heavily armed drug smuggler? They don't know but they're going to stand there and take it on. These are brave men and women who love America and I love each and every one of them.
Mr. Homan, should ICE agents be required to identify themselves?
They do.
They don't always.
They do because the tactical gear has a patch on it saying are they from DEA, FBI or ICE, HIS or HSI ERO, they've got patches. And if they're in a suit like I am, when they go out and arrest somebody, they have creds in their pocket like I have creds in my pocket and it'll show the person here's who I am. Here's my badge, here's my creds, this is who I am.
So, videos when they're shown not identifying themselves or answering questions about that, are those not real? I'm --
[Crosstalk]
They will identify themselves in a safety secure environment. Now, if they're surrounded by a bunch of people who are proposing danger -- safety first. But I guarantee, when someone's arrested and put in detention they know who arrested them because that person has identified himself.
Mr. Homan, [Inaudible]
Pardon me. I missed you.
On Hyundai, the raid in Georgia, I mean, is the administration in touch with the current government right now? What's sort of an update there? And then also, I mean, how much is the administration doing to work with South Korea on those permits? And then for other companies that --
I appreciate the question, but I'm not in the loop on that case.
You're not in the loop?
I'm not in the loop on that one. No, I got -- I'm the border czar. I'm doing a lot. I'm not familiar with that case. But I will say this. I said from day one, we're going to increase worksite enforcement operations. It's a crime to enter this country illegally and it's also a crime to knowingly hire an illegal alien.
They drive down wages and they put companies that hire US citizens out of business. And I can give you many examples of that. Every day illegal aliens are employed by companies undercutting their competition that hires illegal aliens to drive wages down. No one hires an illegal alien out of the goodness of their heart.
They hire them because they can work them harder, pay them less. Just like the farmers -- there's a way a farmer can bring someone on, but they've got to pay decent wages, got to provide housing. There's a right way and wrong way to do this. And President Trump demands we do things the right way.
Mr. Homan, can we get some Spanish speaking surrogates to deliver this message that you're giving? Because we have media that refuses to give the correct information and they're giving the misinformation causing the fear in the communities. Can we get some Spanish surrogates to go ahead and give them the right information so they know exactly what app to go to so that they can go and do things the legal and the right way and the law and orderly way?
I think we do, but I agree with you, we could expand that. So, I'll take that for action.
How does Operation Midway Blitz differ from the raids that you've been conducting in and around Chicago since February?
We've got more resources in Chicago. Again, the president wants to make Chicago safe again. Nothing's changed. We're still prioritizing public safety threats and national security threats. It's just we're sending more resources to sanctuary cities. President Trump said on day one, we're going to prioritize sanctuary cities because that's where the problem is. We know they're releasing public safety threats back into the community every day.
We're going to go where the biggest problems are, and the biggest problems with sanctuary cities.
What kinds of new resources?
More boots on the ground.
To community members and leaders who are worried about profiling, what do you say? Are due process rights being violated?
No. Look, ICE ages aren't racially profiling. The law says you've got to establish reasonable suspicion to detain and question somebody. And I think the men and women of ICE and Border Patrol are doing exactly that. I think the Supreme Court disagreed with us in the California case. There's a myriad of factors they take into consideration.
They learn that in the academy. Every six months, ICE agents have refresher training on the Fourth Amendment that gives them the rules around detention, seizure, arrests, questioning and so forth. They're very well trained. They bring a group of factors together until they establish reasonable suspicion to make an arrest.
Like the big story was they were jumping on the back of a van at Home Depot, how did they establish reasonable suspicion? Were they there when they did surveillance? Were they there when license plate numbers were copied and taken down and tried to build a case on who's hiring these people and where these people came from?
Were they there when they ran NCIC and triple I and intelligence data? Were they there when they screened social media data? The men and women of ICE do a good job, and they do it professionally, they do it with integrity. So, you know, I think the Supreme Court agreed with us yesterday, things are being done the right way.
[Crosstalk]
The president has talked about a program to help farmers; can you give us a status update on that?
[Crosstalk]
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker. He said on MSNBC that ICE is planning to, quote, invade Chicago. He later shared resources with --
The only invasion that occurred was 10.5 million illegal aliens came to our border, invaded this country and were illegally released into the United States. And he finds the federal law, federal law says you come to border without proper documentation you shall be detained, not think about it, not released in an NGO.
You know what happened in the four years which no one talks about?
Why did they release millions of people into the United States when there were thousands of empty ICE beds? Why do they do that? Because if you're in ICE detention, you get a hearing within 35-40 days, 90 percent lose their case, they simply don't qualify for asylum. They get on an airplane; they get sent home.
That's not what they wanted, releasing them to an NGO, the hearings are five, seven, nine years out if you go through the entire appeal process, what happens then? They're hoping for another Democratic leadership. They're going to award amnesty to millions of people. They sold this country off for future political power.
President Trump is enforcing the law. That's one thing that no one wants to talk about. ICE isn't making it up; they're enforcing the law. That's what they're doing because it hasn't been enforced in four years. And everybody's shocked right now at what ICE is doing. They've been doing this since 19 -- I started in 1984. They've been doing this for decades.
But because in the last four years they couldn't enforce the law, now we're back to enforcing law, everybody's having a fit. They're doing the right thing. They're making this country safe again every day. One more question and I've got to go.
[Crosstalk]
Has talked about coming up with a program to help farmers who are hurting from the immigration enforcement. Do you have an update on where that stands?
I'm not going to get ahead of the president on that. There's discussions ongoing. I'll leave it at that, but the president has promised there will be no amnesty.
Mr. Homan, are you meeting that goal that the administration has set of deporting out of the country those individuals in the country illegally of a certain number per day or a certain number per month? Are you meeting the administration's set goals? And what is that number that you've seen so far?
I don't have a goal.
You have no -- the administration has --
I don't have a goal, I want ICE out there every day with their partners, FBI, DEA and ATF, to seek every criminal alien threat, every national security threat. I'll be happy when every illegal alien criminal and every illegal alien terrorist threat is removed from this country, that's when I'll be happy.
Was there never a goal of 3,000 a day? Does that sound right to you?
You know, 3,000 a day -- people keep bringing up 3,000 a day. Let me make something clear. You'd have to arrest 7,000 people a day, 7,000 people a day just to remove the people that Joe Biden let in the country. 3,000 is not unreasonable at all considering what the Biden administration did for four years.
Do the math: 7,000 a day for the rest of this administration just to remove the people they let in, not even talking about the 15 million that are already here. Again, President Trump promised the American people to make this country safer. I want you guys, if you leave them anything, leave with this -- the data proves the majority of people ICE are arresting are criminal public safety threats.
We're taking them off the street. We're removing them from this country. So, every day, this country gets a little bit safer because of President Trump sitting in the Oval Office, giving ICE and Border Patrol the authority to enforce the law and uphold the oath they took to defend this nation. That's it.
Thank you.