Border Report – Border Report Live: Data shows spike in arrest of immigrants with no criminal record

EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) — Border Czar Tom Homan on Wednesday questioned people who protest Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the agents who are carrying out President Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

Speaking to reporters outside of the White House, Homan said ICE is merely enforcing laws passed by Congress, and if anyone should be protested, it’s the lawmakers.

“Why aren’t they protesting the Hill?” Homan said. “If they don’t like (what) ICE (is) doing, protest the people who wrote the bill. I see members of Congress comparing us to racists and members of terrorist organizations. If we’re a terrorist for enforcing immigration law, what’s that make them? They wrote the law. We’re enforcing laws enacted Congress and we’re going to do it.”

Trump’s goal for ICE is to deport 1 million people a year.

For its part, Congress has just approved $170 billion for border security, more than half of which will be allocated toward the ICE mission.

ICE raids across the nation have drawn fierce opposition, with many arguing that ICE is going after hard-working people with no criminal records.

Homan, however, said most of them are criminals.

“First thing I do every morning, I look at the data here every day for the last 24 hours. And here’s what the data told me this morning: 70%, 70% of everybody who’s arrested is a criminal. Hard stop, 70%,” Homan said. “Who’s the other 30% we’re arresting? National security threats, for instance, over 300 Iranian nationals. We arrest national security threats by the thousands since President Trump’s been in office. Who else is that 30%? People who have defied orders of deportation, people who had due process at great taxpayer expense were ordered to remove by an immigration judge. Our job is to remove them. There’s also gang members.”

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