Facing mounting fallout over two fatal shootings of unintended targets, border chief Tom Homan conceded that fierce political attacks are successfully souring public opinion against federal immigration agents.
Host Phil McGraw questioned Homan during an appearance Friday on The Dr. Phil Podcast regarding political criticisms directed at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), asking whether the pushback stemmed from political strategy or other factors, and how it affected agency morale.
“I think the left knows exactly what they’re doing,” Homan said. “The Democrats are trying to steal the narrative and make it a bad thing when it comes up to the midterms or the next election. So, they’re attacking — it’s all about attacking [President Donald] Trump and his legacy, and trying to turn the American people against his number one issue.”
Homan acknowledged that public perception of the agency has shifted amid ongoing public debate.
“Hey, look — they’re making, they’re putting a dent in it for sure, because, uh, I’m reading a lot more stories about, you know, people’s opinion on ICE and what we’re doing, but the men and women of ICE are performing at the highest level ever,” Homan said. “You know, Dr. Phil, we’re taking hits from both sides, too. We’ve got, you know, the hard, hard right saying we’re not arresting enough. The left says we’re arresting too many. So, I think ICE is doing just about the right thing.”
The podcast discussion follows comments Homan made during a Sunday interview with CNN regarding internal agency oversight.
In that interview, Homan stated that an officer involved in one of the recent fatal July shootings should not have “cleared vetting,” following reports that the officer had previously faced domestic abuse allegations from two ex-wives.
Homan also addressed the issue of body-worn cameras for field personnel. None of the officers involved in the July shootings were wearing body cameras at the time of the events. He attributed the lack of active deployment to a shortage of funding required to fully implement the system, while confirming that the body camera equipment itself has already been purchased.
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