President Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, said that his words were “taken out of context” when he said that federal immigration agents can detain people “based on their location, their occupation, their physical appearance.”
During an interview on CNN’s State of the Union, Homan said that physical “can’t be the sole reason to raise reasonable suspicion,” but noted that in some cases, such as if someone had an MS-13 tattoo, it “may be one factor to add to other factors to raise reasonable suspicion.”
“I want to be clear because my words were taken out of context,” he said. “Physical description cannot be the sole reason to detain and question somebody. That can’t be the sole reason to raise reasonable suspicion. It’s a myriad of factors.”
He noted that every situation and officer is different, but that they are “well trained.”
“So every officer, every situation, is different, but I can tell you this, every ICE officer goes through fourth amendment training every six months and is reminded what their authorities are for arrest, detention, and questioning. So the officers are very well trained.”
His clarification comes after a Fox News interview on Friday, where Homan said federal immigration agents do not need probable cause to “briefly detain” people.
“People need to understand, ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] officers and Border Patrol don’t need probable cause to walk up to somebody, briefly detain them, and question them,” he said at the time on “Fox & Friends.”
“They just go through the observations, get articulable facts, based on their location, their occupation, their physical appearance, their actions.”
At the time, Homan was responding to the federal judge’s ruling, which granted two temporary restraining orders. These orders prevented officials from targeting individuals for removal based on their race, language, or employment, and required the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to grant detainees access to legal counsel.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem slammed the ruling as “ridiculous,” adding that ICE “never ran our operations that way.”
“We’ve seen this across the country over and over and over again, where judges are getting political. It’s not their job,” she said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I hope they can bring some dignity back to the bench because we’re lacking it now for many of these federal judges.”
