In comments to reporters on Air Force One this week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Thomas Homan said that the days of illegal immigrants getting a free pass were over. While people who flaunted this country’s border laws under Barack Obama were allowed to “hide in the shadows,” live with their families, and generally make a mockery of the court system, Homan confirmed that things had changed under new management.
“For those who get by the Border Patrol, they need to understand there’s no safe haven in the United States,” Homan said. “They’ve got to understand, if you get by the Border Patrol, ICE is looking for you.”
Of all the men in Trump’s federal government, few have taken to their newfound mission with as much relish as Homan. There has been talk of moving the ICE acting director into General Kelly’s vacant Homeland Security spot, and we can’t think of many better candidates. Homan is someone who is right on the same page as Trump when it comes to illegal immigration and national security, and that makes him a rare breed, even within the Republican Party.
Under his management, ICE has turned into a well-oiled deportation machine, tracking down and packing up illegal immigrants in masterfully-executed raids (that really piss off the liberal establishment, if you needed another reason to love this guy). As a result, we’ve seen arrests go up and illegal crossings go way down. Combined, these statistics mean that Trump – even without putting one brick towards a border wall – has already made this country safer than his predecessor ever did. And Homan deserves quite a bit of credit for carrying the president’s plans through to fruition.
“Look, immigration enforcement is more meaningful when you have a true interior enforcement strategy, which we have under this president,” Homan said. “I think the message being sent on interior enforcement — which wasn’t part of the last administration, not to the extent it is now — interior enforcement is sending that clear message that if you are lucky enough to get by the Border Patrol, in the last administration you’re home free unless you commit yet another crime and get arrested and get put in jail, and get convicted of that crime. Now the message is clear: If you’re in the United States illegally, if you happen to get by the Border Patrol, someone is looking for you. And that message is clear and I think it has a direct impact on the decrease in apprehensions.”
The stats bear this out, as does common sense. Enforce the law…and the law gets enforced.
Seems simple enough. Funny how the last administration could never figure it out.
