Trump’s incoming Border Czar Tom Homan slammed the Biden administration for its record on immigration and said it had “blood on its hands,” after the brutal murder of Laken Riley by an illegal immigrant.
Homan spoke to Fox News Saturday, a day after the beginning of the trial of Jose Ibarra, the man of murdering the 22 year old nursing student as she fought for her life.
“Look if President Trump was president he would be in Mexico in the “Remain in Mexico” program,” Homan said, making reference to a Trump-era policy that required migrants to wait for a court hearing in Mexico rather than the US.
“He would’ve never been released in the United States. If President Trump was president and he did get into the United States and he got arrested in New York for a crime before he committed this murder — he would have never been released on the street, he would have been turned over to us.
“So this administration has blood on their hands.”
There was widespread outrage when it was revealed that Ibarra was released by immigration authorities after being apprehended at the Texas border, because there wasn’t enough detention space to hold him.
Ibarra travelled to New York and was arrested there in August 2023, but released again. From there he fled to Georgia.
Homan also told Fox that the Trump administration would pull funding from sanctuary cities, to prevent them from sheltering illegal immigrants. A similar move was attempted during Trump’s first term, but faced a dogged series of legal challenges.
“Look, if they’re not going to help us then we’ll just double the manpower in those cities,” Homan said. “They don’t want ICE agents in their neighborhoods but they don’t let ICE agents in the jail. They don’t understand if you let us in the jail, that’ll be less agents in your neighborhood.”