[Inaudible] I'll take a half a question.
Mr. Homan, I wanted to quick ask you about Alligator Alcatraz. There's been some reporting that it could cost as much as $2 billion. Can you just walk through the thought process on that? I know the president said thinking of maybe hosting some undocumented migrants there as well when it's up and running.
Can you talk about that?
Look, we just passed the Big, Beautiful Bill. We need more beds. Governor DeSantis came up with some beds pretty quickly. We're looking to get 100,000 beds and the more beds we get, the more bad guys we can take off the street. Every criminal alien we arrest on the street, before we deport them, they need a bed because it takes several days, several weeks, several months to actually move them.
So we need more beds. We're bringing beds on quickly as possible. I think governor DeSantis came up with a good model. And I'm not familiar with [Inaudible] that's a question for ICE, but we're looking for beds and I hope we get more beds on soon. We need the beds.
I'm sorry, I said Alligator Alcatraz. I meant Alcatraz, the reopening of Alcatraz, the original off the coast of --
Well, look, I think they're looking at it. I don't think any decision has been made yet. They looked at the cost of it. But I'm not in the loop on that. But again, we're looking for any available bed space we can get that meet the detention standards that we're accustomed to. Beds are important. Last week, I woke up one morning, we had less than 200 beds.
We'll fill them about half a day. So we're constantly having to change flight arrangements and move deportations as quick as we can, empty beds. We shouldn't be in that position. These operations take time. They're well thought out operations. We need to know that there's a number of beds available when we take the bad guys off the street.
So we need to bring beds on as quick as possible and that's exactly what we're doing.
[Inaudible] the plans to continue major enforcement pushes within sanctuary cities and states?
Well, the president made it clear, we're going to focus on sanctuary cities and make them priority. Why is that, because we know they're a problem. We know they're releasing public safety threats every day because they're sanctuary cities. They're not honoring detainers. We don't have that problem in most of Texas and Florida, for instance.
So we can take resources in those areas and put them in areas where we know there's a problem. So I said for weeks, we're going to flood the zone in sanctuary cities. You're going to see a record number of agents in the neighborhoods and a record number of agents at work site. If they don't give us a criminal alien in the safety and security of county jail, then we're going to go neighborhood and find them because we're going to do the job.
If we can't find them in the neighborhood, we'll find the worksite. So sanctuary cities get exactly what they don't want, more agents in the community, which is going to equal more collateral risk. Because when we find the bad guys with somebody who's not a criminal, but he's here illegally, they're coming too.
So the president made that commitment and I made that commitment and that's exactly what we're going to do and we're already doing it.
[Inaudible] it ultimately cost $2 billion to renovate Alcatraz. Is that a figure that you're comfortable with?
I'd have to see how many beds come out of that number and what's the length of stay that that facility is going to do. We got short term bed facilities, we've got long term bed facilities. So unless I have those that information, I can't even give you a guess.
Would you rather see states do things like Alligator Alcatraz instead of --
I know the secretary is working with other states to do that, to bring on beds quickly that meet our detention standards. Look, I think states have a responsibility too. What the Biden administration did for four years, releasing all these people into the country not properly vetted becomes a state problem.
Look, all the traffic you saw in the last four years come through Texas, 97 percent of them didn't stay in Texas. They went all over the country. So states have responsibility -- states have felt the effect in crime and exhaustion of their social services. So states have a big share of this too and I'm happy that states are stepping up.
[Inaudible] number you have right now as far as beds are concerned, how many and what's the timeline to get to 100,000 beds?
As quick as possible. I don't have a timeline. We got a lot of contracts being reviewed, but the faster we get the beds, the more people we can take off the street.
How many do you have right now?
Right around 60,000.
People who --
Go ahead. Pardon me.
What penalties does someone who assaulted ICE face?
That's a felony. They should go to prison. President Trump made that clear the other day. This ridiculousness is over. You put a hand on an ICE officer, you're going to prison. You impede an ICE officer, you're going to be prosecuted.
When are you going to start --
If you knowingly conceal an illegal alien, you're going to go to jail. If you throw a stone at an ICE vehicle or an officer, those days are over. They're going to get out of the car, they're going to arrest you. President Trump made that clear the other day. I talked to president Trump about that. Within 15 minutes, he put a tweet out, so the ICE officers know.
Zero tolerance, Border Patrol knows zero tolerance.
Mr. Homan, two questions. One is there a lot of Australians who -- and I've spoken to many in that community. I'm not Australian, I'm a US citizen from New Zealand originally, but they're genuinely scared. Australians drink a lot. A few of them have DUIs. They're here illegally. They've paid off their fines.
They've the restitution thing, but they're still scared they're going to be deported because they had a DUI, say 10 or 15 years ago. Is that true? That's what they're thinking is true. And the second thing is, there was someone arrested today who overstayed his visa. Do you think that -- it's wrong to overstay a visa, I understand that, but do you think if they have committed no criminal offenses, they should be penalized the same in these harsh deportations?
If you're here in violation of the law, you're going to be held accountable. You know, President Trump made it clear, we're going to prioritize public safety threats to national security threats. But you're in the country legally, you got a problem. That is why we're pushing the CB home app. Put your affairs in order and leave the country, make yourself available for some legal program.
Well, if you violate -- if you commit a crime, you violate your status here, that's on you. You violate the law, you're going to be held accountable.
What about these things with DUI?
Over 10,000 people a year die from DUI. That's a serious crime.
I agree. [Inaudible] against mayors who are harboring illegal aliens, when is this going to happen, as far as mayors --
That's a question for Pam Bondi and DOJ. I've said it from day one, no one's above the law. If you knowingly and harbor, conceal an illegal alien from ICE, that is a felony. If you impede ICE officers from doing their job, that is a felony. That's a question for DOJ. I've asked DOJ to look at a few cases and they're looking at them, so I'll just leave it at that.
That's a question for Pam Bondi.
When do you expect the president to actually announce the specifics of the exemptions for deportations for farmworkers?
Look, there's discussions going on. I mean, and I'm not going to get ahead of the president on that, but I will say this because I've read a lot of news stories that are inaccurate. There will be no amnesty. There are people talking about -- we talk about policies every day, or strategies every day. That is one of the discussions.
Not going to get ahead of the president. We'll see what happens.
Are you concerned about the amnesty provisions in Congressman Salazar's bill?
There will be no -- the president will not approve any amnesty.
Proposals similar to alligator Alcatraz, which state and how many are you getting?
We don't have agreements yet, so I'm not giving anybody any credit until we get an agreement.
What's happening with golden cards? President announced a few months ago --
Out of my lane. I'm the border czar.
Can you explain how -- Do you have an update on the border wall construction? Which regions are seeing that start? And also, how much border wall and how quickly [Inaudible]
No, I know CBP -- I talked to CBP this morning. They have a plan. They got a prioritization where they're putting border barriers up based on where they see the biggest need. Wall is being constructed. More water boys are being put in the water. But that plan is being put together now based on the Big, Beautiful Bill, now that they have the money available.
They're reinstituting that plan, so I don't have the most recent facts on that.
[Inaudible] specifically that funding is going to, where you're tracking the border --
No. No.
[Inaudible] which countries [Inaudible] --
We have a conversation with a lot of countries, but until we get an agreement, I'm not going to comment who they are.
[Inaudible] Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Homan.