U.S. Customs and Border Protection is enjoying historically high recruiting, with agents happy the job is back to law enforcement after four years of “diaper” duty and “Uber” shuttling during former President Joe Biden’s opening of the border, according to a top official.
Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s border czar, said Wednesday that the president’s moves to close the border have boosted morale in the agency and convinced possible applicants that the Border Patrol’s job is again doing the job of securing the border, not caring for illegal migrants.
“Last month,” Homan told the podcast of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), “Border Patrol had the highest recruiting numbers in the history of that CBP.”
Appearing on “Verdict with Ted Cruz,” and co-hosted with Ben Ferguson, Homan confirmed that agents had tired of caring for migrants.
“Under Joe Biden, it was an average, most days, an average, 70% — seven zero — 70% of agents were no longer on patrol. They were changing diapers, making baby formula, making hospital runs. The last time I went down there before the election, I talked to hundreds of border patrol agents and told them to hang on, hang on. Change is coming. I really think President Trump’s going to win. But they told me, ‘No, we’re sick of being tour stations. We’re sick of being Uber drivers,’” Homan recalled demoralized agents saying.
It’s going to be bumpy, but Congress will get this reconciliation bill passed.
And when we do, we’ll have funding to build the wall, hire more ICE agents, and acquire more detention beds.
More on Verdict: https://t.co/UAZLTWuFla pic.twitter.com/tZnTNSGNgS
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) May 21, 2025
That changed quickly, he added, after Trump won and gave the green light to close the border. Homan said that in just 50 days, illegal crossings were cut by 96% and that daily “got-aways” dropped from 1,800 to 39.
“President Trump’s been a game changer, and the men and women of the Border Patrol stood up, took on the task, and President Trump did in seven weeks what Joe Biden couldn’t or wouldn’t do in four years,” said Homan.
In a discussion about the border crisis of the last four years, Cruz and Homan said that Biden’s actions led to more illegal crossings, rapes and drug deaths.
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“What he did is, in my opinion, borderline treasonous. He should be held accountable, because a lot of deaths occurred under his watch,” said Homan who added that he was “pissed off” watching Biden dismantle the border tightening that occurred in Trump’s first term.
He also shocked Cruz when he said that there are about 700,000 illegal immigrants with criminal convictions inside the U.S. “We’ve got to get them,” said Homan.
