Donald Trump’s White House Border Czar, Tom Homan, faced intense backlash following a CBS interview in which he defended ICE agents and denied claims of racial profiling.
Homan, 64, appeared on Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan on February 15, discussing the practice of federal agents wearing masks during enforcement actions. While he admitted discomfort with the masks, he insisted they were necessary to protect agents from violent attacks.
He also rejected allegations of racial profiling. “When they say stop racial profiling, that’s just not occurring. ICE will detain, briefly detain, and question somebody based on reasonable suspicion. It has nothing to do with racial profiling,” Homan said.
Regarding mask use, Homan emphasized safety concerns: “These men and women have to protect themselves. As far as identifying themselves, they all have placards identifying themselves as ICE, ERO, HSI, DEA, FBI. They all have placards on themselves… The masks right now are for officer’s safety reasons.”
Homan cited a dramatic rise in threats and assaults against ICE officers, claiming threats had risen over 8,000% and assaults over 1,500%. However, neither he nor the Department of Homeland Security provided a specific timeframe or cited sources for these statistics. DHS had noted in a January 26 press release that attacks on ICE officers had increased by more than 1,300%.
CBS host Ed O’Keefe acknowledged federal protections against harming or threatening officers but pressed on the issue.
The segment quickly drew criticism online. Viewers on X challenged Homan’s statements:
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“Lies lies and more F-----G LIES,” one user wrote.
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Another noted, “Homan is lying. SCOTUS and specifically Brett Kavanaugh has explicitly said they can use characteristics like skin color or accent as a justification to stop and detain someone to determine their citizenship status. #KavanaughStop.”
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Many commenters argued that ICE’s so-called “reasonable suspicion” often targets people based on appearance or accent, which they described as racial profiling in practice.
The debate highlights ongoing tensions over ICE enforcement practices and the broader discussion of racial profiling in immigration policy.
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