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White House border czar Tom Homan pushed back on Monday against claims that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Border Patrol agents racially profiled suspects during raids.
Speaking with reporters outside the White House, Homan reacted to the Supreme Court’s ruling allowing immigration raids to continue in California while a case against them moves forward in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Calling the ruling a “great decision,” Homan praised ICE and Border Patrol agents while criticizing the federal judge who had originally blocked the raids. He also rejected claims in the case and in media reports that ICE agents relied on racial profiling or acted without reasonable suspicion.
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“Despite what the media said, mischaracterizing me when I said, ‘Well, you can have reasonable suspicions based on looks alone.’ I never said that,” Homan said. “I said looks are one of many factors you have to consider. It’s a multitude of factors to establish reasonable suspicion. But if the illegal alien has an MS-13 tattoo on his head, that’s certainly going to be one of the factors that we consider when we add a bunch of factors together. It’s a culmination of factors. Not one factor, different factors.”
Another reporter later asked Homan if he or ICE agents took part in racial profiling as a factor.
“Of course I’m not. It’s illegal. We’re not racially profiling anybody. I just said we have to establish reasonable suspicion. That is the legal framework,” Homan responded, reiterating that there were several factors that went into establishing suspicion.
When asked to explain, Homan remarked, “They say, ‘well ICE officers jumping out of vans at Home Depot.’ Were they there during the surveillance? Were they there when they were copying license numbers, who’s dropping them off and where they’re going? Were they there when they were pulling intelligence reports on some of these employers? Were they there when they were running [National Crime Information Center and Interstate Identification Index reports] on these people? Were they there when they were listening on wires? Were they there during any investigation? No.”
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He continued, “But they’ve seen the culmination of this. They say, ‘where’s the reasonable suspicion?’ I trust the professionals at Border Patrol and ICE, all very well-trained to make sure they’ve established reasonable suspicion to briefly detain and question somebody. And the Supreme Court agreed with me.”
On “Sunday Morning Futures,” Homan blasted Democrats who compared ICE agents to Nazis and criticized congressional Democrats for failing to rewrite the law if they oppose it.
“So members of Congress, everyone that wants to attack ICE is disgusting. They’re an embarrassment to the position they hold. They’re members of Congress. If they don’t like what ICE is doing, then do your job and legislate. Until then, President Trump and the men and women of ICE are going to continue to prioritize public safety threats and national security threats and make this country safer every day,” Homan said on Fox News.
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