Former Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Tom Homan said Monday that Chris Wallace should have asked Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas how many recent illegal immigrants have been arrested and deported.
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Chris Wallace interviewed Mayorkas on “Fox News Sunday,” asking the official several questions about the ongoing border crisis.
“I wish Chris Wallace would have asked him …. ‘Okay Mr. Secretary. How many recent border entrants have been arrested and removed by ICE?” Homan said on Fox News’ “America Reports.” (RELATED: Lara Logan Says Biden Is ‘Demonizing’ Border Patrol, ‘Decriminalized Crossing The Border’)
“That number is close to zero. We should have asked that one more question because he’s hiding the truth. He’s dancing around it.”
Mayorkas told Wallace that between 10,000 and 12,000 migrants at the Del Rio crossing had been released into the U.S. but the number “could be higher.
Homan argued that the number was “far more than 12 or 15,000 released.” “He already accounted for 30,000 coming across. They got a little over 2,000 deported. So where’s the other 27,000?”
Homan further questioned whether any of the 8,000 migrants Mayorkas claimed went back to Mexico actually went back. “They’re not going back to Mexico to stay, they just went down the line, two or 3 miles down the line, entering illegally.”
The former ICE director also suggested that migrants are not being released with conditions, calling that “a stone cold lie.” “Many were released with an NTR, notice to report. On the bottom of the NTR … it says you are not in immigration proceedings, you won’t be detained by ICE for humanitarian reasons, you are released,” arguing that illegal immigrants can’t be counted on to “show up at some ICE office … or immigration court.” (RELATED: ‘I Think This Is Illegal’: Sen. Kennedy Says Fox News’ Drones Grounded To Hide ‘Lunacy’ Of ‘Open Border’)
TOPSHOT – Haitian migrants, part of a group of over 10,000 people staying in an encampment on the US side of the border, cross the Rio Grande river to get food and water in Mexico, after another crossing point was closed near the Acuna Del Rio International Bridge in Del Rio, Texas on Sept. 19, 2021. (Photo by PAUL RATJE/AFP via Getty Images)
“Hasn’t this administration created a magnet?” Wallace asked, pressing Mayorkas on Biden’s immigration policies. “Haven’t you given them a reason to believe there’s a reasonable chance if they come into this country, they will end up being released into the country and have months or perhaps years to stay here?”
“This is nothing new. We have seen this type of irregular migration many, many times throughout the years,” Mayorkas responded before bringing up previous border surges.
Many Democrats claimed that border patrol agents on horseback used their reigns to whip illegal immigrants from Haiti who were trying to enter the United States at the Del Rio crossing. However, the photographer who captured images of the alleged incident, Paul Ratje, said he never saw agents actually “whipping” the migrants.