By Sigrid Gonzalez
I am a Mexican American who worked for the Obama and Biden administrations, and I unexpectedly found some common ground with White House Border Czar Tom Homan during his recent speaking engagement at UTEP. As someone who identifies as a humanitarian committed to providing hospitality to migrants — and as a moderate who does not romanticize immigration but understands the complexities of our broken system — his remarks were important for me to hear.
I previously worked with Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson during the period when Homan served in Immigration and Customs Enforcement leadership under President Obama. Homan himself noted during his speech that some of the most effective actions in responding to the early migration influx occurred during that administration, including family detention and removals, demonstrating that policies can have common ground in some aspects among different political views.
The important factor in this is the way they are operationally executed.
Homan delivered a fair speech. giving most of his time to answering students’ questions in a setting where open dialogue should occur — especially for the students who will shape the future of U.S. values, including our approach to immigration.
This is why I was disappointed by the low student turnout inside the auditorium, despite students being given priority over the general public. Many chose instead to protest outside. While exercising their rights is important, I wish more of them had gone inside to engage directly with one of the current administration’s architects of what many view, including myself, as cruel tactics against migrants.
Frankly, I would have felt fine giving up my seat for them. Even better would have been if the general public attendees — who made up most of the audience — had been left standing outside instead.
Had the students been present, their voices would have provided a true representation of the El Paso community: 82% Hispanic, one of the most bilingual cities in the country. Their presence alone would have communicated to Homan that in this community, the workforce — and the families behind it — look like the very individuals he is advocating agents “briefly detain” for questioning based on probable cause.
Unfortunately, Homan did make several false statements that generated the kind of sound bites that have fueled this administration’s communication success. He claimed that the previous day saw 106 apprehensions with zero migrant releases — something the crowd loudly cheered.
That was false. Hospitality sites in both El Paso and Laredo received migrant releases daily last week, transferred directly by ICE.
He also stated that during the Biden administration, there were days when not a single agent was present on the border in the El Paso Sector. Again, false. Agents have always been on the line.
Were they overwhelmed and frustrated by the volume of apprehensions? Absolutely. But they never abandoned the border. I know this firsthand — I worked alongside them during these influxes.
Students raised concerns about use-of-force incidents involving agents. Homan responded by saying that the Office of Professional Responsibility should investigate such incidents and hold agents accountable. I applauded that answer. But this raises an important question: how can the public identify an agent who violates policy when agents’ faces are covered? Even FitFam would have trouble solving that one.
Homan also discussed the issue of “gotaways” — individuals detected crossing the border through technology but never physically apprehended. He cited 2 million during the Biden administration, which is indeed troubling. But he failed to mention that even today, with Border Patrol, the U.S. military, National Guard, DPS, and historically low apprehension numbers, “gotaways” still occur — particularly in the El Paso Sector. This demonstrates the complexity of the border. It cannot be fixed with a magic wand waved from Washington, D.C.
Yes, we must continue speaking out against fear-driven and cruel actions that impact our communities. But we also need to be willing to enter spaces of dialogue — especially difficult ones — where we can listen, challenge, and occasionally even agree.
Sigrid Gonzalez is a dedicated humanitarian from the El Paso-Ciudad Juárez area with 20 years of immigration experience.
The post Opinion: What an Obama-Biden official took away from border czar Tom Homan’s El Paso talk appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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