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Border Czar Tom Homan Holds New Conference in Minneapolis. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired January 29, 2026 - 08:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[08:30:00]

TOM HOMAN, BORDER CZAR: That said, I'm not here because the federal government has carried this mission out perfectly. First thing I said to senior staff when I walked in here is what I told you earlier. I didn't come here looking for photo ops or headlines.

I came here looking for solutions. I do not want to hear that everything that's been done here has been perfect. Nothing's ever perfect.

Anything can be improved on. And what we've been working on is making this operation safer, more efficient, by the book. The mission is going to improve because of the changes we're making internally.

No agency or organization is perfect. President Trump and I, along with others in the administration, have recognized that certain improvements could and should be made. That's exactly what I'm doing here.

As such, in meetings I've had with federal law enforcement managers, including ICE and CBP and other federal partners, as well as state and local officials, I have conveyed the President's expectations with regard to federal immigration enforcement efforts. We will conduct targeted enforcement operations. Targeted.

What we've done for decades. When we hit the streets, we know exactly who we're looking for. Good idea where we may find them.

You have a criminal history, you have their immigration history, a lot of information about this person that we get from numerous databases out there. Targeted, strategic enforcement operations. That's traditionally been the case, and that's where we're going.

That's what we're going to continue to do and improve upon that. With a prioritization on public safety threats. I want to be clear.

I don't read a lot of social media, I don't read a lot of media, because I don't believe half of what I see. We are not surrendering the President's mission in immigration enforcement. Let's make that clear.

Prioritization of criminal aliens doesn't mean that we forget about everybody else. That's just simply ridiculous. When you have a criminal standing here and a non-criminal standing there, that criminal always should be targeted first, because he's a significant concern to the safety and security of the community.

By and large, for decades, ICE and CBP have carried out their duties with integrity, professionalism, and compassion. That remains the expectation under President Trump, and we will, I will, hold our agents and officers to that standard. I'm almost done, then Tom can be Tom.

As far as the agitators, that said, I want to reiterate and make very clear. I want to make it clear. ICE and CBP officers are performing their duties in a challenging environment under tremendous circumstances. But they're trying to do it with professionalism.

If they don't, they'll be dealt with. Like any other federal agency, we have standards of conduct. They are sworn law enforcement officers working tirelessly to enforce our country's border security, immigration laws, protecting the interests of our country, and preventing dangerous people from walking the streets of this nation when they're not supposed to be here to begin with.

Men and women of ICE, I was a border patrol agent. I was an ICE agent. I was the first ICE director that came up through the ranks. I spent over 40 years doing this.

These men and women that carry that badge and gun are American patriots. They put themselves on the line for this nation every day. But I want you to remember, they don't hang their badge, they don't hang their heart on a hook every day they come to work.

They're mothers and fathers too. They're sons and daughters too. And if they've seen a fraction of the tragedies I've seen in my career, they take a lot of damage home every day.

The things they've seen, especially on the border with border prisons. People drowning in the river. Women being raped by criminal cartels.

Giving CPR to a baby that was thrown in a river by the cartels because border patrols came too close. So let's throw the baby in the river. That way the border patrols concentrate on that so I can get away.

These men and women have seen some terrible things. But I want you to remember, they're mothers and fathers too. Many of them are members of this community.

God bless every one of them. The hostile rhetoric and dangerous threats and hate must stop. And we all agreed to that.

[08:35:00]

Everybody I met here today, we've got to stop the rhetoric, the hateful rhetoric, that is causing an increase in assaults. That has caused, because of that, we have to send security teams out with arrest teams, which surge the city with additional resources because of the rhetoric, because of the threats, because of the assaults. Again, with the agreements we've achieved in following through with the agreements, with the rhetoric dropping down, that allows us to pull more agents out once we feel the environment is safer.

I begged for the last two months on TV for the rhetoric to stop. I said in March, if the rhetoric didn't stop, there was going to be bloodshed. And there has been.

I wish I wasn't right. I don't want to see anybody die. Not officers, not members of the community, and not the targets of our operations.

For the people out there who don't like what ICE is doing, if you want certain laws reformed, then take it up with Congress. Again, ICE is making this up. They're enforcing laws enacted by Congress and signed by the President.

The same laws have been on the books for the last six Presidents I've worked for. I started with President Reagan, and ending with President Trump. Every administration, we enforce the same laws.

If you don't like what ICE is doing, instead of protesting this building, go protest Congress. Tell them we want changes. If you have your First Amendment rights, I support that.

You have the right to protest. I'm just asking you to keep it peaceful. But threatening law enforcement officers, engaging in impeding and obstruction and assault, is never OK.

And there will be zero tolerance. You interfere, impede, assault ICE officers, you will be arrested. Like I said a bit earlier in meetings with Governor Walz, Ellison, and Frey, as well as state and local law enforcement, I appreciate they acknowledge this, that public safety should be paramount.

The Chiefs I've talked to have committed to responding to 911 calls when protesters turn violent, agents are in a dangerous situation, and there's assaults. They have committed to upholding public safety and responding to the needs, not to enforce immigration law, but to keep the peace. With that, I call upon those officials standing shoulder- to-shoulder with us to tone down the dangerous rhetoric and condemn all unlawful actions against law enforcement in the community.

There are many ways your voice can be heard, express your feelings, and effect change in the country without crossing that line. Political and other disagreements in this room should not be expense of public safety or the safety of federal law enforcement officers. In closing, I want to thank the state and local officials here in Minnesota that I met with and the many I'm going to meet with.

We've had meaningful dialogue. And look, again, we didn't agree on everything, but we agreed on the things I just talked about. There's much more we can do.

And I'm going to continue this dialogue because I've got many more community leaders to talk to. I've got many more sheriffs to meet. President Trump wants this fixed, and I'm going to fix it with your help.

I want to thank President Trump for his unwavering commitment to public safety and prosperity of every American. Under President's leadership, we have the most secure border in the history of this nation, which means less women are being raped, less children are dying crossing that border, less fentanyl is getting into this country to kill Americans, less known suspected terrorists are crossing the country, and we don't have two men unknown got away and we know who the hell they are.

A secure border means we have stronger national security. A secure border saves lives. When 96 percent less people come in, how many women aren't being sexually assaulted by members of the cartel?

How many people aren't dying making that journey? How many Americans aren't dying of fentanyl overdoses? How many women and children aren't being sex trafficked in this nation?

The data proves it. Anybody can find that data. So God bless this great nation.

God bless Minnesota. We can do better. And I thank the local and state leaders meeting with me.

[08:40:00]

We made some significant gains, significant coordination and cooperation, and you're going to see some massive changes occurring here in this city. Thank you.

GIOVANNA DELL'ORTO, ASSOCIATED PRESS: Thank you so much. Mr. Homan, Giovanna Dell'Orto with the Associated Press. Based on how you have described these changes in the mission, can you be more specific about the objectives of Operation Metro Surge?

If what you have described changes the parameters for interior enforcement only in Minnesota or also in Maine and other places? And finally, when would you consider that those objectives will be achieved and this operation will end? Is it in terms of agents on the ground, in terms of who you're targeting for arrests?

HOMAN: The withdrawal of law enforcement resources here is dependent upon cooperation. Like I said, one agent arresting one bad guy in jail means less agents on the street. We have some agreements.

We've got more to talk about, how we're going to implement those agreements. But as we see that cooperation happen, then the redeployment will happen. Look, target enforcement operations should happen across the nation.

That's what we've done for decades. And with target enforcement operations, I've done many, many of them. It just makes it safer for everybody.

When we know exactly what we're looking for, what is his criminal history? What is his immigration history? Where does he live?

Is he in an apartment complex versus a house? Has he got a known record for having weapons? It's safer for everybody. Then we know what type of resources we need to go. And you know, it just makes this operation cleaner, more efficient, and it's proven less violence. When we know exactly what we're getting into, and we can take the necessary precautions to keep everybody safe.

You know, some of the operations that I've been involved in, we know there's children in the house based on surveillance. So we know you've got to be a little bit different when you go in that house because there's going to be children present. So target enforcement operations, the way we've always done it, I think we've got to wait for a little bit.

And we're going to make sure we do target enforcement operations. And look, and I will say it again, you know, we are not surrendering our mission at all. We're just doing it smarter.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Aaron. I'm Shimon Prokupecz from CNN. Mr. Homan, how did we get here in terms of you had Greg Bovino who was the face of this immigration operation, mission, as you say, to having border patrol agents in the interior of this country stopping U.S. citizens, asking them for ID, creating this fear in places like Chicago and now here. And then finally, it took really the death of Alex Petti for us to get here. How did that happen? Who made the decisions to allow this kind of operation to proceed in this way and to create such fear?

HOMAN: Well, look, the border patrol, last four years under Joe Biden, we had an open border where 10,000, 12,000 people a day were coming across the border. Border patrol got overwhelmed, which means we sent thousands of ICE agents down there to help deal with that humanitarian crisis and help secure the border. Now we have millions of people released in this nation, many unvetted.

Now, we've got to find them. Before the Big, Beautiful Bill, we had a total just under 5,000 deportation officers to look for millions of people, many are public safety threats. So, yes, we needed border patrol to come and help on our mission now.

And the reason for the massive deployment is because of the threats, because of the violence. Our officers need to be protected. If I'm on an operation, an arrest team and we're going to a house, I'm going to be busy with that guy, the dangerous guy, and I can't keep looking over my shoulder at what's happening outside the house, so we brought extra resources in to provide that security.

And as I said, as we drilled down on these great agreements we got and this great understanding we have, it means less. So we can draw down those resources. When the violence decreases, we can draw down those resources.

But based on the discussions I've had with the governor and the AG, we can start drawing down those resources as far those looking for public safety threats being released and doing it in jail with much less people. So the drawdown is going to happen based on these agreements. But the drawdown can happen even more if the hateful rhetoric and the impediment and interference will stop. So border patrol, I was a border patrol agent. These men and women are patriots. God bless them. They're here to help us.

[08:45:00]

And the drawdown will come soon depending on when this actually, I see this in play, that the agreements we have alone is going to cause a significant drawdown. So you're going to see a drawdown.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ben, go ahead. Go ahead, Ben.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've been doing this for 40 years, just on follow-up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ben, go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First off, Ben Buerkle (ph) on Real America's Voice News. On behalf of the American people, I just want to say thank you to you and to all of the agents that are putting their lives on the line to go after the people that were allowed in in the last administration. We watched that happen in the media, the honest media, covered up by many of the media that are behind me.

We want to say thank you and to all the men and women that are out there. Can you talk to us about what's being done with the leadership on these Signal chats, on these WhatsApp chats that are organizing the attacks against you, the obstruction against you? Are you going to be arresting those individuals as well? And to the folks out there in America that voted for this, that want mass deportations because they saw a mass invasion under Joe Biden.

What would you say to them? How are we going to get to that point?

HOMAN: Well, first of all, about the organization and the funding of the attacks on ICE. I'm not going to answer a lot about that because I'm not going to show our hand, but they'll be held accountable. Justice is coming.

Again, we've got to all remember why the questions we're seeing and why we're here. What started this? Four years of an open border where millions of people are in this country, unvetted.

Remember, let's not forget, for four years we were told the border was secure. Four years we were told the border was secure and we all knew it wasn't. And I want this to be a positive thing we're doing here today.

I also want to remember the politicians are continually attacking us. Where were they the last four years when the number of women and children in sex traffic went all-time high? Where were they when a quarter million Americans died from fentanyl coming across the border?

Where were they when women and children were dying making that journey? Where were they when over 4,000 families making that journey died? Historic record.

Where were they? Not a word. Now we're just trying to respond to what happened the last four years and keeping this country safe.

And we're arresting a lot of public safety threats, taking them off the streets to make this country safer. President Trump promised to make this country safe again and that's what we're doing. But my three -- two and a half days up here, we made a lot of progress. So I think everybody agrees on the criminal and public safety threats.

They agree it's much safer and easier to arrest an alien in a facility than send a whole team out in the field that's going to draw anger because now we've got to send a bunch of people to do something that could have been done by one or two people.

And I've said this for years. I, you know, I have no ill will to anybody in Minnesota. All the people I talk to we're never going to agree on everything.

We have different philosophies and different opinions on immigration. But we all agree this is the way to go to reduce safety, reduce crime -- not reduce safety -- reduce crime and increase safety for our operations. More people in the jail means less people on the street. It's simple math.

LANA ZAK, CBS NEWS: Lana Zak, CBS News. Everybody I've spoken with agrees that if somebody has a violent criminal history and is a fugitive they don't want them as their neighbor. But when you're talking about a targeted operation are you talking about targeting people whose crime is coming to this country or is it a more specific definition now?

HOMAN: All operations will be targeted but the prioritization are going to be criminal aliens public safety threats and national security threats. I've met with Marcos and his staff. We got a lot of them.

We got a lot of them to keep us busy. So that would be our focus.

ZAK: But that is enough that that's what there is not going to be a focus on people who have no other crimes except for their status.

HOMAN: If you're in the country illegally, you're never off the table. But you know, prioritization doesn't mean you forget about it. If the message we send, is you enter this country legally, it's a crime. Don't worry about it. You can have your due process show up in court, not show up in court. Get ordered or move.

Don't worry about it. Unless you commit a serious crime, you're good to go. If that's the message we send to the world, you're never going to fix this problem.

[08:50:00]

The most vulnerable people in the world will make that dangerous journey like they did under the Joe Biden administration. Over 4,000 aliens died making that journey. And again, a significant increase in sex trafficking. Because when they did that and opened those borders up saying we're not going to detain you, we're going to give you free health care we're going to fly you to the city of your choice, put you in a free hotel room. Give you three meals a day and give you work authorization. We're just going to bring you in. And when they did that, they sent a message to the whole world you can come and do this.

And what happened? They overwhelmed the men and women on the Border Patrol. Where many days 70 percent of agents were pulled off that night. 70 percent.

You don't think the criminal cartels had a field day with that? They created gaps for the cartels to do their activity. And that's why you've seen the rise in fentanyl overdose that's why you saw the rise in sex trafficking.

The 2 million plus known gotaways. Why did they pay more to get away? Why didn't they pay less? Turn yourself in. Get released within 24 hours. You get a free airline ticket to the city of your choice. We're going to give you a free hotel room, and we're going to give you free food and free medical care. And you'll get work authorization in six months.

Why did 2 million people choose to pay more not to take advantage of that giveaway program? They didn't want to be vetted. They didn't want to be fingerprinted. That scares the hell out of me, and it does still.

The Trump administration with ICE and Secretary Noem and Marco Rubio and the intelligence community, Tulsa Gabbard, we're all working together to try to identify who these people are, and we've already found many of them. But it's hard work to do but there are national security threats walking this nation because of the last administration and they are one of our main priorities too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. Can you please be specific about how many ICE and how many Border Patrol agents are currently operating in the state?

HOMAN: I think we're near 3,000. There's been some rotations. Another thing I witnessed when I came here, and I'll share this with you.

I've met with a lot of people, a lot of the agents, they've been in theater here. Some of these people have been in theater for eight months so there's going to be rotations of personnel hopefully less now that we have some agreements maybe we can make it more efficient and safe. But they've been in theater a long time and so there's rotations happen all the time to get people out here and go home get some rest and see their families. Day after day can't eat in restaurants. Day after day having people spit on you and whistles at you.

Day after day, having all these threats on you.

Day after day having people trying to interfere with you day after day. You know they're human, so, you know, we got to rotate, rotate these people. And we've already rotated some.

But my my main focus now is draw down based upon the great conversations I've had with your state and local leaders. Again, I'm not a fool. I'm not walking away without seeing this put in place.

But I take the word of the people I met with. I think they're honest and I think they're good brokers that they want public safety protected, and they also want what's happening in the city to go away. And that's what were that's my goal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Last question in the back

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm with Newsmax. The new video of Alex Pretti is now circulating and the reaction to that. And do you think law enforcement could have played a role if let's say Minneapolis police were able to respond to that. Have those top enforcement officials said they'll help or do anything to help these agents who are out here?

HOMAN: I'm not going to comment on any of these shootings I said from day one, from day one, I said on any of these shootings as a career law enforcement officer, we'll let the investigation roll out, let the investigation play out and let it go where it goes. I'm not going to come out and make any comments that I think is right, wrong. Do I have an opinion?

Yes. My personal opinion but I'm not going to share that with you. I'm going to tell you, let the investigation play out and see where it goes. But again, the president, one of the words he said to me when I came up here, he said, he didn't want to see anybody die.

The less interference, the less rhetoric -- I have buried Border Patrol agents, and I've buried ICE agents throughout my career. And the saddest thing I've ever done is hand a folded flag to a wife or a child. I don't want to see anybody die. Even the people we're looking for. I don't want to see anybody die.

And despite what people think of Tom Homan, I say a prayer every night that everybody goes home safe. This isn't good. But I think my conversations the last two and a half days are leading us to a safer community. Let ICE officers operate in the safety and security of a jail more than on the street.

[08:55:00]

I think anybody here with common sense would say it's safer to arrest a public safety threat in the safety and security of a jail. And let me tell you, what is that going to result in? Less collateral arrests. When we go find that bad guy and when we find that bad guy, many times it's with others.

Well guess what? They're in the country illegally, we're going to enforce immigration law. They're coming too you. Want less collateral arrest, arrest them in the jail. But we're going to enforce immigration law. And for the people to say we're here to surrender our authority and the mission of enforcing immigration law? You are wrong. We're going to targeted enforcement operations, and we're going to

prioritize the public safety threats and national security threats. That is what we're here to do.

[Speaker 2] No more questions. No more questions guys. Thank you.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right we have just been listening to a significant press conference. Borders Czar Tom Homan spoke after being here on the ground. He said for 3 days.

This is the first time that the public has heard from him After the melee and the chaos that has been meted on this city in Minneapolis between ICE agents, some 3,000 of them, and the public here. He said -- and here are some of the big lines that have come out of this from my perspective. He said, President Trump wants this fixed, and I am going to fix it.

He also says we are not surrendering the president's mission on immigration enforcement here. It will continue, but the mission is going to improve. So admitting there that the mission has gone off course.

He also said no one is perfect. The president and I agree certain improvements, quote, certain improvements should and could be made, and that is what I am doing here. He also talked about what they were going to be doing and how they were going to change the mission.

He says we will conduct targeted, targeted being the important word, enforcement. When we hit the streets, we will know exactly who we are looking for, Tom Homan said, where we can find them and their criminal history. So making the distinction between doing a sweep, which is how people have viewed what has been happening here with these 3,000 federal agents, both Border Patrol and ICE, and making it much more targeted, which is what they initially said they were doing in these particular raids as they come into communities.

He also said that the drawdown can happen even more if, as he put it, the hateful rhetoric and the impeding will stop. He said the drawdown will come soon when I see how this all plays out. It was very interesting to hear him and the way he is talking very different, very different from the way that the commander who was in charge before, Greg Bovino, was speaking.

Much, much, much more subdued. Let's get now to Priscilla Alvarez and get your take as a person who covers all of these different members of the task force on immigration. What did you see that stood out to you in that press conference?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, and Sara, I have covered Tom Homan for many years, too. This is his classic playbook. Everything that he said is the philosophy that he has had on immigration enforcement for years.

So let's walk through how this applies specifically to Minneapolis. He said, as you noted, he's staying until the problem is gone. He's taking this task from President Donald Trump, who, of course, dispatched him earlier this week.

He also noted that the deployment of federal officers, that large deployment of 3,000 agents, he was acknowledging that it caused stress in the community. And to that point, he is planning to draw down and is working on plans to draw down the number of officers there, both with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. But he also said the caveat there was finding cooperation with local officials to make that happen.

And he talked about some agreements and discussions he had with local officials on that front, particularly underscoring working with them with county jails. So, for example, if they have someone and that person is released, getting a notification that that individual who has a criminal record or is considered a public safety threat can -- or rather letting the ICE officials know so they can go and pick them up. He noted that nothing is perfect, but they are striving for more efficiency.

He also said, quote, the mission is going to improve because of the changes we're making internally, improve, doing a lot there because that is recognition that things have not been going to plan, as we know, with the violence that unfolded in Minneapolis. I do want to note, though, on targeted enforcement operations that similarly hinges hinges on cooperation.

[09:00:00]