In an exchange on “CBS Evening News” Wednesday, Border Czar Tom Homan offered a sharp rebuttal to questions regarding the humanitarian impact of the Trump administration’s deportation efforts, redefining “compassion” as the restoration of law and order and the rescue of vulnerable children.
The friction began when anchor Tony Dokoupil pressed Homan on the administration’s aggressive enforcement policies.
Referencing an October 2024 meeting with The Wall Street Journal editorial board where then-candidate Donald Trump insisted, “we have to have the heart” when conducting mass deportations, Dokoupil asked the Border Czar simply: “Where’s the heart in this?”
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Homan, a veteran of immigration enforcement, rejected the premise that enforcement lacks humanity. He defended the agents on the ground, reminding viewers that the men and women of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are “mothers and fathers, too.”
“They don’t hang their heart on the hook every day they come to work. They got a tough job,” Homan said. “Enforcing the law sometimes is sad.”
However, Homan argued that true compassion should be measured by results rather than the optics of enforcement. He asserted that the administration’s strict policies have resulted in a 96% drop in illegal entries, a statistic he claims directly translates to lives saved.
By establishing clear consequences for illegal entry, Homan argued, the U.S. has effectively stopped vulnerable migrants from handing over their life savings to criminal cartels for a journey that is often deadly.
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“The heart is a secure border saves lives. The heart is less sex trafficking is occurring,” Homan told Dokoupil.
A central pillar of Homan’s defense involved the welfare of unaccompanied minors. He leveled a heavy critique at the previous administration, accusing them of losing track of 300,000 migrant children and failing to properly vet sponsors—noting that some addresses listed for these children turned out to be parking lots or supermarkets.
According to Homan, the current administration has already located over 129,000 of those missing children.
“We’re finding missing children the last administration released… The heart is we’re finding [them],” he said, pledging not to stop until all are accounted for.
The interview comes as the Department of Homeland Security released new data regarding the scale of the crackdown.
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According to administration figures, more than 622,000 illegal migrants have been deported during President Trump’s second term. Additionally, officials report that the strict enforcement environment has led to another 1.9 million individuals opting to self-deport.
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