Border czar Tom Homan shot down rumors that the administration is backing off from promises to carry out mass deportations, a signature of President Donald J. Trump’s domestic agenda.
Concerns over the election year optics of an aggressive push to round up and deport illegals and the deaths of two anti-ICE activists in Minnesota who were shot during confrontations with federal immigration enforcement officers were followed up by changes in management, with Kristi Noem replaced at DHS by Markwayne Mullin, who prefers a more low-key approach that doesn’t make headlines.
But according to Homan, there isn’t going to be a shift away from getting the illegals who were imported during the Biden administration out of the country, and he expects the deportation numbers to actually increase.
Fox News’ Will Cain: How many deportations do we need to set this country’s population back to where it’s actually a country of illegal aliens?
Border Czar Tom Homan: “Millions!… I see it all the time there’s 12M illegal aliens in the country. We used 12M, 25 years ago. I… pic.twitter.com/fT042jTENx
— RedWave Press (@RedWavePress) May 7, 2026
“We’re going to continue to surge resources, especially to sanctuary cities, because we know we have a problem there,” he told Fox News’ Will Cain on Thursday. “So, I expect the numbers to increase while the border numbers continue to decrease.”
When asked about the numbers, Homan put them in the millions.
“Millions,” he said. “Look … I see it all the time, there’s 12 million illegal aliens in the country, we used 12 million 25 years ago, I think it’s well over 20 million. So, we’re going to do everything we can to arrest as many people as we can.”
After Cain put him on the spot over whether large-scale operations to get the illegals out are even possible, Homan vowed that “I’ll give it one hell of a shot.”
“I mean, bottom line is we’re not going to give up on President Trump’s promise to the American people on mass deportations,” the border czar added, also confirming that the hiring of 10,000 more agents to enforce immigration policy, telling Cain that there are around 7,000 “on board” with 3,000 more in training.
He also said that he expressed his opinion to Mullin that the “vast majority” are going to “need to go to sanctuary cities.”
“Why is that? We go to Florida, every sheriff, every [police] chief is working with us. They honor detainers, we’ve got less of a problem in states like that, Florida and Texas,” Homan said. “However, in states that want to lock us out of jails, that refuse, sheriffs and chiefs, to work with us in any capacity, that’s where we know it’s a problem, because we know they are releasing public safety threats, illegal aliens every day.”
“For the people out there saying, ‘President Trump’s getting weak on mass deportation,’ you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” Homan said in remarks at the Border Security Expo in Phoenix, Arizona, this week.
“This year will be a good year,” he added. “Mass deportations are coming.”
