While acknowledging that the United States government has not carried out its mission on immigration "perfectly" in Minneapolis, border czar Tom Homan said Thursday that immigration officials "are not surrendering the president's mission and immigration enforcement."
Those efforts, he said, will involve making arrests while focusing enforcement on known public safety threats.
"We will conduct targeted enforcement operations," Homan said during a press conference in Minneapolis on Thursday, describing a strategy he said ICE and CBP have used "for decades" by identifying specific suspects in advance through criminal and immigration records.
Homan said that since he arrived in the community, he has met with leaders at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, along with state and local officials, to communicate the administration's expectations.
"ICE is enforcing the laws enacted by Congress," said Homan.
However, he added that he's "not here because the federal government has carried this mission out perfectly."
"The first thing I said to senior staff when I walked in here, I didn't come here looking for photo ops or headlines," said Homan. "I come here looking for solutions. I do not want to hear that everything's been done here has been perfect. Nothing's ever perfect. Anything can be improved on. "
That means work will take place to make "this operation safer, more efficient by the book," he said.
"The mission is going to improve because of the changes we're making internally," said Homan. "No agency [or] organization is perfect. And President [Donald] Trump and I, along with others in the administration, have recognized that certain improvements could and should be made."
Homan pushed back on claims that prioritizing arrests of immigrants with criminal records means agents will ignore others who are in the U.S. illegally.
"Prioritization of criminal aliens doesn't mean that we forget about everybody else," Homan said. "That's just simply ridiculous."
He said those with criminal histories should be the first targets because they pose "a significant concern to the safety and security of the community at large."
Homan also emphasized conduct standards for agents and officers, saying ICE and CBP are expected to operate "with integrity, professionalism, and compassion" and warning that violations will be handled as they would be in any federal agency.
"If they don't, they'll be dealt with like any other federal agency," Homan said.
He defended frontline personnel as "sworn law enforcement officers" and "American patriots," saying they face difficult situations and carry a lasting emotional toll from what they see in the field, including on the border.
"These men and women see some terrible things," Homan said.
In response to a reporter's question about cooperation, Homan pointed to efforts underway with local partners and suggested greater cooperation could allow agents to be redeployed.
"We have some agreements. We got more to talk about. How are we going to implement this agreement?" he said.
Homan said the targeted approach makes operations safer and more efficient because agents can assess risks in advance, including whether weapons may be present and whether children are in a home, and plan resources accordingly.
"It just makes this operation cleaner, more efficient," he said, adding that it results in "less violence when we know exactly what we're getting into."
He repeated that the strategy does not mean backing away from enforcement.
"We are not surrendering our mission at all," Homan said. "We're just doing [it] smarter."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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