The left-wing media has covered the arrests and deportations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement since President Trump started his second term, but they have chosen to paint a picture that ICE was the bad guy, not the illegal immigrants or national security threats they’re apprehending. On Tuesday, border czar Tom Homan appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe and absolutely torched the anchors on the truth about ICE, and not what the media wanted people to think of law enforcement.
Co-host Jonathan Lemire showed Homan a survey of “56 percent” of Americans who disapproved of Trump’s immigration policies, whether it was the videos people have seen on the news or the detention centers like Alligator Alcatraz. Homan clapped back at the poll and pointed out the facts that the media tried to discredit his agents:
Second of all, if there's any movement in the polls at all, it's because of the false stories out there about ICE. Look, I read in the paper every day that “a majority of people in ICE custody are not criminals.” Wrong. The majority are criminals. But now the argument is, are they criminal enough?... A majority of criminals have criminal history. Who are the rest of the people in our custody? They're national security threats. They may not have a criminal conviction, but there are national security threats based on intelligence reports. For instance, ICE arrested over 200 Iranian nationals that are currently in custody. Yeah. They're not documented criminals, but they're national security threats. They need to be detained.
It seemed like MSNBC forgot that ICE served to protect the American people rather than a topic used to twist the truth. After all, why was the liberal media still choosing to act like national security threats and illegals with criminal histories were the victims here?
When co-host Joe Scarborough told Homan about a video he saw of an ICE arrest, Homan slammed the media for their “hateful rhetoric.” Here’s the gut punch for MSNBC:
I mean, I know, you see, there's a lot of videos out there. It's hard to tell, you know, exactly what's happening in every video... and they have they've either identified themselves or they're in plainclothes, or the tactical gear they're wearing is clearly marked. But the masks, I think, are important. How do we get rid of the mask? Stop the hateful rhetoric. Assaults on ICE officers are up over 800 percent. And I specifically mean members of Congress. If members in Congress can compare ICE to the Nazis, that gives some of those people on the far left that know that the out of control people, it emboldens them to take action. I'm just asking to stop the hateful rhetoric. And if you question what ICE does, then let's go to Congress and talk about the immigration law and how what changes are needed.
MSNBC was definitely clutching their pearls after hearing that. Between Homan calling out the media for lying about the criminal history of the illegal immigrants to calling them out for disrespecting ICE agents, it is clear the liberal media had an agenda to smear ICE and sympathize with illegal immigrants who were criminals.
ICE officers had a difficult job; one which Homan noted had an “800 percent” increase in the chance of being met with violence. These workers deserve respect for upholding the law rather than the disrespect the left-wing media fed the public.
Click here for the transcript:
MSNBC’s Morning Joe
7/22/25
7:34 a.m. Eastern(...)
JONATHAN LEMIRE: So, Mr. Homan, obviously, this is one of the – this mass deportation program, one of President Trump's signature campaign promises. But there's been a series of polls lately, including a new one from CBS, in which 56 percent of those surveyed disapprove of the President's immigration stances. That's a ten point drop from back in February, blamed by some on some of the in-your-face tactics, the masked ICE agents, the detention centers like Alligator Alcatraz. Why do you think that the majority of Americans right now do not like what they're seeing?
TOM HOMAN (BORDER CZAR): Well, first of all, I don't believe the polls. Second of all, if there's any movement in the polls at all, it's because of the false stories out there about ICE. Look, I read in the paper every day that “a majority of people in ICE custody are not criminals.” Wrong. The majority are criminals. But now the argument is, are they criminal enough? Is it DUI dangerous enough? What, 10,000 people a year die from DUI’s? I think DUI is a crime.
So, you know, then you got this whole, you know, back and forth on how serious a crime is it? But I looked at the numbers yesterday. A majority of criminals have criminal history. Who are the rest of the people in our custody? They're national security threats. They may not have a criminal conviction, but there are national security threats based on intelligence reports. For instance, ICE arrested over 200 Iranian nationals that are currently in custody. Yeah. They're not documented criminals, but they're national security threats. They need to be detained.
There's also what we call expedited removal cases. There are certain immigration arrests that we make within the confines of the border within two years that we process through expedited removal, which by statute, by federal law were required to detain.
So that the media just aren't telling, isn't telling the truth about who are in detention. Then the second part of that, I see all the stories that the majority of people ICE arrest, are not criminals. That's just that's just that's a fake story. We are prioritizing criminals and public safety threats. But who are the other people you see as arresting? Fugitives. Those who had due process at great taxpayer expense.
A federal judge ordered them removed rather than leaving. They became a fugitive, and they're in the wind. The law requires us to execute those removal orders. That is what that's a job for ICE. You know, federal judge orders them removed. We are supposed to remove them. So we're removing final orders. And again, who else are we out there arresting? National security threats that may not have a criminal conviction, but we're required to arrest them and detain them and remove them.
So, I think the media is purposely giving misinformation to the American people, ISIS doing and is raising the rhetoric. And because of this false narrative that is being pushed out about ICE, that's why it feeds the rhetoric, the negative rhetoric. That's why we have an 800 percent increase in violence against ICE officers.
People need to know that ice officers are simply enforcing the laws that Congress enacted. And you got members of Congress out there comparing ICE to, you know, Nazis and to racists and to terrorists. They're simply enforcing laws that they, Congress, enacted. But so if ISIS, you know, if they're racist for enforcing the law, what does that make members of Congress who wrote the law? It's just ridiculous.
And the rhetoric has to be tamped down or we're going to see more violence. I said two months ago, if the rhetoric didn't decrease, there would be bloodshed. And there has been. One man was killed trying to ambush a Border Patrol facility. He died. Another group of people tried to ambush an ICE facility and one officer was shot in the neck. This rhetoric has to stop. The truth needs to come out. The men and women in ICE are simply doing their job, enforcing the law that Congress enacted.
And I want to leave it with this. People need to understand the men and women of ICE, I was one, when I came up through the ranks. Their mothers and fathers, too. And they see terrible things every single day, so they don't hang their heart on a hook every day they go to work. These are men and women who are out there trying to make this country safer and concentrating on those public safety threats and making this country safe again.
(...)
7:41 a.m. Eastern
JOE SCARBOROUGH: You think they should do that? Because I've seen videos of a woman being taken off the street. I think it was at Tufts student, a foreign student that had like five or six people without uniforms on. Your position is they should, even if they're covered, to protect their identity, their family's identity. They should have markings on their uniform. Right?
HOMAN: Yeah. They well, if they're in tactical gear, they have markings on uniforms. If they're in plain clothes, like I am right now, then they show identification, tell me who they are that they're, “I'm an officer with ICE, Special Agent with ICE.” They identified themselves and identified that person and let them know why they're being detained. I mean, that is just standard operating procedure.
I mean, I know, you see, there's a lot of videos out there. It's hard to tell, you know, exactly what's happening in every video. But I'm telling you, the way these officers are trained, and I've been on the streets every week since January 20th with these teams. And they have they've either identified themselves or they're in plainclothes, or the tactical gear they're wearing is clearly marked. But the masks, I think, are important. How do we get rid of the mask? Stop the hateful rhetoric. Assaults on ICE officers are up over 800 percent.
SCARBOROUGH: Right.
HOMAN: And I specifically mean members of Congress. If members in Congress can compare ICE to the Nazis-
SCARBOROUGH: Right.
HOMAN: That gives some of those people on the far left that know that the out of control people, it emboldens them to take action. I'm just asking to stop the hateful rhetoric. And if you question what ICE does, then let's go to Congress and talk about the immigration law and how what changes are needed. But again, they're simply enforcing the law that they're required-
SCARBOROUGH: Right.
HOMAN: To enforce and uphold the oath they took to enforce those laws.
SCARBOROUGH: Yeah, that's what I used to say about IRS agents. If you don't like what the IRS is doing, talk to members of Congress.
HOMAN: Yeah.
SCARBOROUGH: They're the ones that passed the law. So I understand what you're saying and certainly if there's markings, then understand the balancing act on the masks, as well. It's – Border czar Tom Homan. Thank you so much for being with us. We greatly appreciate it.
