Donald Trump’s incoming border czar Tom Homan says it’s guaranteed that the future president will pull federal funds from states that don’t comply with his mass deportation plans.
Homan, who served in the highest echelons of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under Presidents Barack Obama and Trump, was recently tapped by the president-elect to serve as ‘border czar,’ a role tailor-made to carry out Trump’s deportation mandate.
The president-elect repeatedly claimed while campaigning that on day one he would pull off the ‘largest deportation program in American history.’
Homan will be tasked with helping Trump make good on that promise.
Speaking on Fox News with host Mark Levin on Saturday, the host suggested that the border czar has an important tool at his disposal to force states to comply with the mass deportations.
‘Much like the Confederacy, they want to go on their own,’ Levin said of states not wanting to enforce deportations. ‘They want to do their own thing. To me, you got a powerful weapon among others, okay, no federal funds – boom – last thoughts?’
Homan didn’t waste a beat, confirming immediately that states and municipalities that don’t ‘cooperate’ with federal immigration agents will have their federal funds restricted.
‘That is going to happen,’ Homan stated. ‘I guarantee President Trump will do that.’
A migrant from Venezuela climbs over a border fence in an attempt to enter and seek asylum in El Paso, Texas, from Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, on April 2, 2024
Since FY 2021 agents have encountered nearly 11 million migrants trying to enter the U.S.
Restricting the federal funds that typically flow to the states could have devastating impacts on every member of the union.
States routinely take in billions of dollars in revenue in the form of federal grants.
In FY 2021 California received a whopping $163 billion dollars from the feds while New York took in $110 billion and Texas $106 billion, according to federal data.
Though those numbers are inflated due to the expensive federal response to COVID-19 at the time, which infused states with extra cash, the trend remains, and states still routinely receive tens of billions annually.
Federal grants were the second-largest revenue source for states in FY 2022, according to a Pew analysis.
There have been nearly 11 million migrant encounters since the start of FY 2021, federal data shows.
By comparison, during Trump’s first administration between fiscal years 2017 – 2020, there were just 3.1 million encounters.
The record levels of illegal immigration have irked Americans across the country, as evidenced by poll after poll showing that migration and border security ranked among the top issues for voters in this year’s election.
Democrats, meanwhile, have bristled at the thought that migrants who illegally entered the U.S. may face deportation.
And some are signaling they will defy any immigration order, putting them directly at odds with the incoming administration.
Democratic Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, for example, said that he would work to keep federal immigration officials out of his town should they work to deport migrants there.
He said that the effort could turn into a dangerous stand-off akin to the infamous 1989 Tiananmen Square protest in China.
‘It’s like the Tiananmen Square moment with the rose and the gun, right? You’d have every one of those Highland moms who came out for the migrants. And you do not want to mess with them,’ Johnston said.
Homan said that it us guaranteed Trump will restrict federal funding to states that do not comply with his deportation mission
U.S. President Donald Trump visits a section of the U.S.-Mexico border wall in Otay Mesa, California, U.S. September 18, 2019
Trump promised to carry out the largest deportation mission in history after years of record illegal immigration under President Joe Biden
Homan took Johnston’s comments head on, telling Levin that mayors and governors who try to work against Trump and his team’s deportation plans are complicit in gruesome migrant-related crimes, such as the notorious murder of Georgia college student Laken Riley, who was slain by a Venezuelan migrant that entered the U.S. illegally.
‘For those mayors and those governors who say they’re going to stop ICE from doing their job, stop me from doing this job, listen to the Laken Riley tape,’ Homan said.
‘Listen to the 17 minutes of this girl suffering, fighting for her life, fighting for her breath.’
‘This little girl didn’t want to die, she fought like hell. Listen to that tape. That happens every day across this country at the hands of an illegal alien.’
Roughly 35 percent of Colorado’s revenue in FY 2022 came from federal grants, Pew data shows, meaning Johnston’s state could see a huge reduction in funds should they not comply with Trump’s immigration orders.
And the border czar reiterated that the deportation mission will protect Americans.
‘President Trump has made it clear, we’re going to prioritize public safety threats and national security threats right out of the gate because they pose the most danger to this country.’
‘What governor or mayor doesn’t want public safety threats and national security threats out of their neighborhoods, out of their communities? That’s their number one responsibility.’
So, you can hate Trump all you want, but you’ve got to love your community more than you hate President Trump,’ Homan added.
