Border czar Tom Homan suggested he was right in his prediction that negative rhetoric about Immigration and Customs Enforcement would lead to “bloodshed.”
Homan reacted to the ICE shooting in Minneapolis on CBS News’s Evening News Wednesday. Host Tony Dokoupil showed a video of 37-year-old Renee Good driving her car in the middle of an ICE operation when she was approached by three ICE officers. One officer shot Good as she continued to maneuver her car, and she died as a result.
“There’s 100 different videos out there, and there may be body cam videos, I’m not going to comment,” Homan said. “But I think it’s reckless what I’m seeing on social media. I’ve seen at least seven or eight members of Congress make the comment that ICE just murdered somebody. Murdered.
“When the rhetoric started escalating back in late March, I said, ‘If this rhetoric continues, there will be bloodshed.’ I’ve seen this movie before. I’ve done this for over 40 years. And sadly, I was right,” Homan said.
The officer involved in the shooting had been previously “dragged” in a vehicle ramming months before, according to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. This comes as the Department of Homeland Security reported assaults against ICE officers surged by 1,153% in 11 months. Additionally, the number of death threats made against ICE officers increased by 8,000%, according to the Center Square.
“Look, enforcing immigration law sometimes — just being a cop, sometimes I’ve seen some terrible things in my career. I’ve seen some very sad things. Enforcing the law is sometimes sad,” Homan said.
“But because of the actions of President Trump, thousands of lives are being saved every month,” he said. “Ninety-six percent less people are coming because they know there’s consequences now.”
DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin agreed with Homan in blaming rhetoric for the escalation of violence against ICE.
ICE ACCUSES POLITICO REPORTER OF ‘INCITING VIOLENCE’ AGAINST FEDS IN SOCIAL MEDIA POST
“After months of Democrat politicians comparing ICE to Nazis, the Gestapo, slave patrols, and even encouraging illegal aliens to resist arrest, our brave ICE law enforcement have been assaulted 238 times,” McLaughlin said in a press release.
Roughly 2,000 ICE officers arrived in Minneapolis on Monday on top of ICE officers who had already been in the city for a month before.
