President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, blasted leftists who attacked federal immigration agents during a raid at a Southern California cannabis farm on Thursday, saying there are “protesters becoming criminals” and they are being “emboldened” by Democrats.
Homan told Fox News on Friday morning that protesters have a constitutional right to make their voices heard, but added that they cannot cross the line of impeding federal immigration enforcement operations.
“That’s a felony,” Homan said. “They certainly can’t put hands on an agent. That’s a felony. So what happened in California is another example of protesters becoming criminals, and they’ve been emboldened by … members of Congress who compared ICE to Nazis and racists and terrorists.”
“I mean, the rhetoric is so high. And I said two months ago, it’s going to end up with a loss of life, and we had one the other day in Texas,” he added, reffering to the gunman who was shot dead by authorities after opening fire on a Border Patrol facility, wounding two police officers and a Border Patrol employee.
During Thursday’s immigration raid at a cannabis farm in Camarillo, California, leftists threw rocks at federal agents’ vehicles that were leaving the farm with detainees. One man was also caught on camera appearing to fire a handgun at federal agents during the operation.
Immigration authorities detained several suspected illegal immigrants and also found 10 children, including eight who were not accompanied by an adult, at the marijuana farm, according to Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott. The farm is “now under investigation for child labor violations,” Scott said.
“The work men and women of ICE are doing is incredible,” Homan added. “We’re looking for over 300,000 missing children. We’ve already found 10,000. Have you heard that anywhere? No, the media is simply not covering it. This should be a nonpartisan issue. Arresting public safety threats and national security threats, everyone should be on the same page on that. Rescuing children should be a nonpartisan issue.”
In August 2024, a Department of Homeland Security Inspector General report found that 291,000 unaccompanied children who unlawfully crossed the border in recent years did not receive court notices, meaning those children had not yet appeared before an immigration judge. The report added that “ICE cannot always monitor the location and status of [unaccompanied minors] once they were released from DHS and HHS custody.”
Homan then ripped Democrats for criticizing ICE operations.
“They hate President Trump more than they love their community,” Homan said. “They hate President Trump more than they want safe communities.”
Democrats have been blasted by the Trump White House for their rhetoric on ICE agents, with some Democrats comparing them to the Gestapo, the secret police of Nazi Germany.
