To Err Is Homan

Trump's immigration czar is running a shitshow that's all show without doing shit

White House immigration czar and former Fox contributor Tom Homan, seen in an Aug. 22, 2024, outtake from his audition reel. (Screengrab / Fox video.)

No other issue has animated Pres. Donald Trump and his base the way immigration has. Xenophobia’s a hell of a drug.

Republicans used to celebrate immigrants and at least refrain from dehumanizing and fear-mongering about those here illegally. (Okay, some Republicans. Fine, both parties have had some pretty shitty xenophobes throughout our history.)

But Trump, an inveterate exploiter of immigrants in his professional life, changed all of that. Even his party’s business wing, once a champion of the labor, documented and otherwise, from which it wrung its wealth, is today muted at best.

Trump’s deputy, Elon Musk, is ironically the most vocal champion for immigration. Ironically not just because he was here illegally, not just because he champions only the immigration that benefits his businesses, but also because he’s an open exploiter of labor and opponent/abuser of workplace rights.

Meanwhile, even some Democrats supported the cynically named Laken Riley Act, which, in the name of toughness, handcuffs Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), stripping them of the discretion to prioritize genuinely dangerous targets.

Now, ICE must detain even undocumented immigrants merely accused of some crimes, including non-violent ones. This forces ICE to dedicate resources that might otherwise have been deployed against those more likely to kill the next Laken Riley.

It was the first law that Trump2.0 signed after campaigning on the promise of mass deportations. Ten million and more to be removed.

“On day one, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history to get the criminals out,” Trump lied during the campaign.

To oversee his non-existent program, Trump appointed an opinion-haver from Fox — former cop, ICE official, and family-separation mastermind Tom Homan — as his White House immigration czar. Immigration’s Captain Ahab, Stephen Miller, got the policy portfolio as deputy White House chief of staff.

If you watch too much any TV, you might be forgiven for believing the show that Homan and Trump have staged. Militaristic-looking ICE forces and scary vehicles. Evil furners in handcuffs. The air is full of it, helpfully conveying the impression that Trump is doing what he promised.

So let’s review how they’ve really done so far. But first, a reminder that immigrants are a net boon to this country. Not only to the precious, holy economy. Not just to the historically low crime rate. But just, y’know, as people. Other humans. The friends we haven’t met yet.

And regardless of whatever value they have to us, they are humans who America once welcomed with open arms without assessing their value, without judgment. I’ve waxed elegiac before about the words found at the Statue of Liberty, our welcome to the world’s wretched refuse.

So this is not a critique that Trump and Homan have not done enough. It’s a wake-up to Trump’s un-woke supporters so that they might see just how profoundly and systematically they’ve been played.

Just the fact that Trump and his team have focused so much more on other issues should be a gigantic tell. But, if not, here ya go.

Abandoning Texas and Florida

These two ur-red states hollered the loudest about undocumented immigrants. Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) was so aggrieved at times it seemed like he was hoping for an open shooting war between his own state’s border tough guys and undocumented immigrants federal law enforcement.

And yet, where are the raids of Houston oil fields? Where are the roundups of Palm Beach landscapers and dishwashers?

Instead, Trump’s ICE-capades took its show on the roads to cities Trump had beef with — even if the people of those cities liked their immigrants.

The New York Post, Rupert Murdoch’s dream diary, embedded someone with an ICE raid in Chicago despite being the New York Post.

Newsfuckers, do ya remember how undocumented immigrants were everywhere when Trump was campaigning? Remember the invading armies and their pet-eating? Their wanton turning of dogs and cats into wontons?

Well, now that the election’s over, Trump’s crack troops can’t find those invading armies. Here’s the Post’s self-undermining reporting about Chicago:

“...one team of federal ICE agents … admitted the task of identifying criminal migrants in the sanctuary city … and actually making arrests can be like finding needles in haystacks.”

Turns out, not only are dangerous undocumented immigrants just like needles in haystacks, they’re also rare as hen’s teeth! And Trump’s troops can only find them once in a blue moon.

Here’s the Post again, on that chilly January day in Chicago, when pretty much everyone was indoors:

“...between 10 teams of about 10 agents each, ICE made only two arrests in Chicago after five hours on the ground.”

So let’s talk about these arrests!

Arresting Developments

There’s Diego Antonio Montero, who told the Post he was not a criminal. The Post said his record says otherwise, because he’s been arrested before. On charges that are still pending. Meaning: No verdict!

So, not guilty, just Post-guilty.

And how did those 100 ICE agents manage to hunt down their during their five-hour manhunt? Montero was wearing an ankle bracelet that Pres. Joe Biden helpfully slapped on him back in November.

ICE detained and handcuffed two other men…who both turned out to have legitimate asylum claims pending and are, therefore, allowed to be here.

One other note: The Post story seethes with resentment that Chicago officials (a) aren’t helping ICE, but also (b) are telling people about the U.S. Constitution. Which was supposed to be our secret.

The first one, (a) is because the law says that cities don’t have to help ICE. Trump is not the mayor! Powers not delegated to the feds get delegated downward, thanks to the Constitution, which the Post doesn’t want people knowing about. And thanks to (b) — activists teaching immigrants what the Constitution says — we got this gem from the Post:

“[A]t two stops in the Humboldt neighborhood, the targeted residents in the homes where ICE knocked, knew not to open the door.”

So who smuggled in this dastardly knowledge of the Constitution? Those ne’er-do-wells at… “Organizations … like Catholic Charities, La Voz Latina and school administrators.” And so…

“Instead, at one house three people gazed down from an upper floor window — seemingly unfazed by the presence of armed agents in bulletproof vests and loud walkie-talkies knocking repeatedly at the front and side doors.”

In other words, they were steadfastly nonchalant despite the desperate efforts of Trump, Homan, and Murdoch to make them extrachalant.

On the other hand, it’s not like Trump’s ICE officers were just going to give up.

“After about 10 minutes of stalemate, ICE gave up…”

“Stalemate”! 🤣 (Someone please tell the Post editors that a stalemate is when neither side can move. It was January. In Chicago. ICE’s prey was already inside and didn’t want to movve!)

And, let us note, giving up is to ICE’s credit. They’re playing by the rules. The Post makes a fair point that law-enforcement see themselves as helping. We’re all the heroes of our own stories.

And lots of law enforcement are heroes and do help (the best will readily confirm that not all are). TFN isn’t here to demonize ICE officers, the target is the absurdity of Trump’s and Homan’s ICE-capades.

The Daily Beast rounds up more non-round-ups:

In Colorado, a failed state now run by the Venezuelan gang warlords of Tren de Aragua, 400 ICE agents poured into Denver and Aurora one day last week, raiding seven locations. ICE announced that “100+ members of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua were targeted for arrest and detention.”

For the record, it’s extremely unusual to arrest 100+ people. Typically, law enforcement knows exactly how many people it arrests. But ICE had 1+ good explanation! Simply put, the announcement was 1+ lie.

In fact, two (1+) unnamed federal sources told ABCNews that the total number of arrests was only 29+, or 30, to be specific.

Those arrested did not include Tren de Aragua’s fugitive ministers of finance and foreign affairs. In fact, out of those 29+, the number of actual Tren de Aragua members arrested was precisely uno, or 0+.

And the people ICE was rescuing from Tren de Aragua? They made fun of ICE.

Y’know who else isn’t happy with ICE? The president of ICE!

NBC reported on Friday that a source familiar with Trump’s — uh, well, the word NBC used was “thinking” — let’s say, emotional state, described him as “angry” that he is failing so badly at deporting people. It’s not clear yet whether Trump might ask Biden for advice.

“It’s driving him nuts they’re not deporting more people,” the source told NBC, implying that Trump is now more nuts.

Embracing the trickle-down sads, Homan as a result is now reportedly “unhappy,” according to another source. But the important thing is that now they’re in touch with their feelings and with unnamed sources who tell NBC about those feelings.

What’s Homan’s excuse for his sad-trombone raids? He blamed leaks to the media for the wah-wah Colorado raid. Which media?

Fox.

Scapegoats

Bill Melugin was the Fox guy doing the ride-along through the desolate Mad Max wastelands of Colorado. After that raid went wah-wah, Homan pdedicated a sad-trombone solo to Melugin:

“Bill Melugin, great guy, but we’ve got a lot of OpSec [tough-guy jargon for Operational Security, i.e, not leaking shit] issues we’re dealing with … We can’t be having all of these different news outlets out there with us on raids.”

But still — and far be it from me to question the veracity or reasoning abilities of a Trump appointee — is it really possible that a seasoned law-enforcement leader like Homan couldn’t handle the basics of something as simple as a ride-along?

Or is possible that Homan was fucking up in other ways?

Chris Vanderveen, an investigative journalist at Denver’s 9News, wrote an invaluable account of what really went down, in addition to the White House IQ.

While Homan implied that Fox and Megulin were to blame for Tren de Aragua getting tipped off, it turns out that other news media were on site at an ICE raid staging area before Fox — the official, approved, propagandalong outlet — got there.

How did 9News get there before Fox, who had the inside skinny? Simple: 9News had the outside skinny.

Because at 6am, ICE was outside at the staging area, visible to everyone — including people who value local reporting and let 9News know about it. How visible was ICE? This:

And how could local residents possibly know that this Hanna-Barbera prop was an ICE vehicle rather than just your run-of-the-mill, local-militia, battering-ram, Boner-Mobile? Vanderveen explained:

“[I]t's routine for various people to tell us, for example, when a boatload of federal agents are amassing in a parking lot

“In addition, ICE agents weren't exactly trying to NOT let the public know they were around.”

Specifically, not trying to not let the public see this:

The media leaks to which Homan attributed the demise of his ICE-capade road show were actually not due to anyone tipping off immigrants who had serious crimes in their jackets, it was people reading ICE jackets.

Covering his ass, Homan ordered an investigation into a leak that there’s literally no evidence ever happened. And Vanderveer helpfully provided Homan his first tip: A transcript of a recorded conversation from Aurora on Oct. 14, in which a certain Trump insider bragged about the coming raids:

If only there were some sort of distinctive speech pattern that might help Homan’s crack investigators crack this mystery leaker’s identity, the very best identity.

And it wasn’t just Colorado that somehow leaked from Homan’s otherwise airtight ship. The Chicago raids were leaked, too. Before Trump was even president.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Jan. 17 that large-scale deportations would begin the day after Trump’s inauguration. In Chicago.

That leak came from four people. And it first emerged back in December, at a holiday party in the Windy City. “We’re going to start right here in Chicago, Illinois,” said the leaker, who was Homan talking with his face.

So who else could have tipped off the dangerous, definitely-existing gangs? That would be Jesse Watters of Fox, who on Jan. 17 asked Homan, on the air, whether he was “blowing your cover” by asking about a big Chicago raid.

Homan, of course, denied confirmed it: “Chicago is just one of many places.” Newsfucker, it was not.

Hilariously, though, ICE’s biggest raid took place in Potemkin’s Village.

Sham Pain for Their Real Base

ICE’s most sophisticated strategic effort was aimed not at deporting immigrants but at tricking Trump’s super-sophisticated voting base of rigorous empiricists. How’d they manage to pull the wool over the eyes of a cohort too blind to see that Trump’s a blustering nimrod?

The Guardian figured it out in the absolute best, most classic case of “Why All Journalists Should Be Assholes.” The newspaper reported that ICE wasn’t flooding the streets with ICE agents so much as they were flooding Google with ICE press releases. And not just any ICE press releases…

Specifically, they were old ICE press releases as much as 10+ years old. On Jan. 24, 2025, in one fell swoop, ICE updated the time stamps on thousands of old press releases. So anyone looking online — and not looking at the story dates — would see tons of “new” accounts of ICE raids. Most of which were conducted under Democratic presidents, but looked like Trumpapalooza.

And while reshoveling out old Democratic news, ICE stopped supplying new news, specifically, the numbers that used to be public when America was still run by Tren de Aragua viceroy Jose Biden.

Finally, on Feb. 4, Trump’s Stars on ICE revealed that since Jan. 20, ICE had deported 5,699+ people. Now, if Trump keeps going at that rate, in his first (fifth?) year in office he’ll deport fewer than half the 271,483+ that Biden shipped out last year.

On the other hand, as The Daily Beast flagged, Trump’s numbers seem to defy math itself, as the guy that America somehow let be president again posted a chart of encounters (that didn’t lead to repatriations) which, somehow, for the most recent date, appears to show a negative number (0-) of daily encounters.

So according to Trump, the same visual-aids master who Sharpied up a hurricane map, his border patrol has on at least one+ day encountered a negative number of peoples.

Which can only mean Trump is now deporting migrants out of the entire space-time continuum.

Then, on Friday, NBC reported more statistics, courtesy of acting ICE Director Caleb Vitello:

“Vitello told agents in January to aim to meet a daily quota of 1,200-1,400 arrests. According to numbers ICE has posted on X, the highest single day total since Trump was inaugurated was just 1,100, and the number has fallen since that day. On Tuesday of this week, arrests of immigrants were over 800, according to a source familiar with the numbers. But last weekend, there were only about 300 arrests.”

An earlier assessment from Politico concluded that:

“...the number of daily Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests, trumpeted each day on X, are still about where they were at times under President Barack Obama. Many of those detained have no violent criminal history and thousands have been quietly released for lack of detention capacity.”

So if the frantic ICE-twirling isn’t working to increase actual deportations, is it at least working to scare immigrants? How badly are America’s immigrant communities rattled by all of Trump’s saber-rattling and handwaving?

Immigration attorney Elizabeth Ricci told The Daily Beast, “The number of calls I am getting is more or less the same as they were this time last year.” And that’s despite Trump’s marketing push.

Last week, the White House said they had released 400+ migrants after being caught, due to lack of detention capabilities. That’s right, Trump catched-and-released them just like Biden did.

PS: Trump isn’t opposed to all immigrants, of course. But it’s telling to learn who he wants coming in.

He supports H-1B (or is that H-1+B?) visas ostensibly reserved for skilled workers, but which also give employers leverage for abuse. The visa holders can’t quit or find another job without losing their visas.

Then there’s Trump’s other favored group of immigrants: Black Africans white South Africans. The government there has enacted a new law allowing seizures of land in the public interest, in return for compensation. (Which we also have.)

Trump didn’t like that, because it might mean that the people of South Africa might at some point reclaim some of the 70% of farmland that’s owned by white Afrikaners (South Africans of European descent). So what’s Trump doing about it?

He’s welcoming here — as refugees — white South Africans who haven’t even had their stolen land unstolen yet.

The Upshot

It is, of course, a wonderful thing that Trump and his appointees lack the competence even to merely continue deportations that were routine under Biden. (And it’s embarrassing that Biden was doing more — and that Democrats generally bought into the linguistic perversion that transmogrified a humanitarian crisis at the border into a crime/jobs crisis inside our border.)

But it’s also a lovely, heartwarming blessing that, after upbraiding Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde for asking him to show mercy to people here who are scared, including immigrants, Trump through his own incompetence has done exactly that.

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Jonathan Larsen is a longtime TV news producer and journalist who’s worked at MSNBC, CNN, ABCNews, The Daily Show, Air America Radio, and The Young Turks.

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