Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s border czar, vowed Sunday that the Trump administration would not defy court orders stemming from legal challenges over its invocation of the wartime Alien Enemies Act to deport undocumented migrants from the United States.
For the past week, a federal judge in Washington, James Boasberg, has tried to determine whether the Trump administration ignored an earlier order to temporarily halt deportation flights under the Alien Enemies Act when it flew Venezuelan detainees to El Salvador even after the judge ordered their flights to be turned around.
According to Homan, all of those sent to El Salvador were known gang members, and — he claimed — most were members of Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang that the Trump administration has labeled a terrorist organization.
“That plane removed 240 terrorists from the United States,” Homan claimed, speaking exclusively on ABC’s “This Week.”
But family members of some of those flown to El Salvador insist they had no affiliation with any gang. And on Sunday, Homan refused to provide any specific information supporting the Trump administration’s claims.
“Look that’s that will be litigated in the courts with this judge,” Homan said, referring to Boasberg. “I’m not going to get into every specific case.”
Though Homan promised that the Trump administration would not defy court orders, he also said, “I don’t care what the judges think as far as this case.”
Trump has publicly blasted Boasberg as “crooked” and called for his impeachment.
Here are additional highlights from Homan’s interview:
On following court orders
Karl: “I want to start with something you — you said last week that caused a big stir. You said, I quote, ‘I don’t care what judges think.” Now, I know you have since said the administration will abide by court orders. We heard Donald Trump say the same thing. So, what — what do you mean when you say, “I don’t care what judges think?”
Homan: “Well, I don’t care what that judges think, as far as this case. We’re going to continue to arrest public safety threats and national security threats. We’re going to continue to deport them from the United States. I understand this case is in litigation through the Alien Enemies Act and we’ll abide by the court order as litigated. But my point was, despite what he thinks, we’re going to keep targeting the worst of the worst, which we’ve been doing since day one, and deporting them from the United States through the various laws on the book. We’re not making this up. The Alien Enemies Act was actually a federal law, it’s a statute, enacted by Congress and signed by a president. Now that’s our litigation.”
On people on deportation flights with no criminal history
Karl: “So, how do you determine — or how do your people in the field determine that somebody is a gang member?”
Homan: “Look, there are various methods. Now, it’s not been — I’ve noticed in the media, ‘Oh, a lot of them don’t have criminal histories.’ Well, a lot of gang members don’t have criminal histories. Just like a lot of terrorists in this world, they’re not in any terrorist database, right? We only know information what’s in databases based on — for instance, most terrorists we arrest that are identified by the U.S. government are later identified through a Title Three investigation or through an undercover operation. They’re not in any terror screening database, we know that.”
On due process
Karl: How do you — I mean, what we’ve heard from lawyers representing some of these people is that they deny that they’re members of — of this — of this gang or either, you know, Tren de Aragua, or MS-13. Do they get a chance to prove that before you take them out of the country and put them into a notorious prison in a country that they’re not even from? I mean, do they have any due process at all?
Homan: “But the bottom line is, that plane was full of — of people designated as terrorists, number one. Number two, every — every Venezuelan migrant on that flight was a TDA member based on numerous criminal investigation, on intelligence reports, and a lot of work by ICE officers. Matter of fact, two days after that flight took off, I even had a discussion with the acting director of ICE and we — he reiterated that every person, every Venezuelan on that plane was a known member of the TDA.”
On verifying every person on flights to El Salvador was a gang member
Karl noted the case of Jerce Reyes Barrios, whose lawyer alleges that he was deported because of his tattoo of the Real Madrid soccer team’s logo. Barrios’ lawyer said that he had no prior criminal charges or has ever been involved in a gang. Karl asked if the administration would release information on those deported.
Homan: “Look, that’s going to be — that — look that would be litigated in the courts with this with this judge. I’m not going to get into every specific case because, you know, there’s 260 cases. We got to count on the men and women who do this every day for a living, who — who — who designated these people as a members of TDA, through like, I said, various law enforcement methods. This will be litigated.”
On securing the border
Karl: “Alright, let me turn to the situation at the border itself. You have now more than 10,000 U.S. troops deployed to support your mission at the border and two Navy destroyers that have been deployed to patrol the waters around the border as well. How long do you expect you are going to need that level of force, military force, at the border, because, as you just mentioned, the numbers are way down? I mean they are dramatically down.”
Homan: “We’re going to secure the border and make sure no public safety threats or national security threats cross the border and get away. So, look, you know, like – like we knew what would happen as we secure the southern border, the land border, some of these groups are going to take to maritime, they’re going to take to the water. So, we’re — you know, we’ve got the Coast Guard, we’ve got CBP maritime patrol, and we’re going to have the Navy out there looking at the maritime.”
