The Dictatorship
White House border czar suggests ICE can detain people based on ‘physical appearance’
Nearly six months into his tenure as the White House’s “border czar,” Tom Homan has made a great many controversial public comments, about everything from due process to prosecuting news organizations to his curious focus on Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
But we’re often reminded that his rhetorical record is still growing.
In his latest Fox News appearance, Homan said: “Look, people need to understand, ICE officers and Border Patrol don’t need probable cause to walk up to somebody, briefly detain them, and question them. They just need totality of the circumstances, right? They just go through the observation, get our typical facts — based on the location, the occupation, their physical appearance, their actions.”
NBC News reported earlier this year about concerns related to racial profiling as part of the Trump’s administration immigration raids, and hearing the White House border czar talk about ICE agents being able to detain people based on “their physical appearance” will likely make those concerns worse.
What’s more, Homan’s on-air comments sparked quick pushback from Capitol Hill. Rep. Daniel Goldman said via Bluesky that the border czar’s assessment was “patently false.”
The New York Democrat added, “DHS has authority to question and search people coming into the country at points of entry. But ICE may not detain and question anyone without reasonable suspicion — and certainly not based on their physical appearance alone. This lawlessness must stop.”
Complicating matters, this was not Homan’s only notable quote from the last 24 hours. He also spoke with Politico and talked up the idea of reaching new agreements on third-party deportations. “When you’ve got countries that won’t take their nationals back, and they can’t stay here, we find another country willing to accept them,” Homan said.
As part of the same interview, Blue Light News noted the recent Supreme Court ruling that cleared the way for eight men to be deported to South Sudan. The border czar said he was unsure of the status of the eight men — or whether they are detained there — saying that they are no longer in U.S. custody.
“They’re living in Sudan. And will they stay in Sudan? I don’t know,” he said. “When we sign these agreements with all these countries, we make arrangements to make sure these countries are receiving these people and there’s opportunities for these people. But I can’t tell if we remove somebody to Sudan — they can stay there a week and leave. I don’t know.”
This report has been updated with Rep. Goldman’s reaction to Homan’s comments.
Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an BLN political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”