President Donald Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Tuesday to defend the use of masks by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers as they terrorize communities across the country.
“The masks, I think, are important. How do we get rid of the mask? Stop the hateful rhetoric,” he whined.
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Widely considered the “father” of Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy—which tore thousands of families apart during his first term—Homan blamed the “out of control people” on the left for why ICE agents feel the need to disguise their identities.
“I specifically mean members of Congress. If members in Congress can compare ICE to the Nazis, that gives some of those people on the far left—you know, the out of control people—and emboldens them to take action. I’m just asking, let’s stop the hateful rhetoric,” he said.
Homan’s gestapo-like enforcers have been terrorizing law-abiding immigrants on worksites, schools, and in their neighborhoods. And as people protest the Trump administration’s unlawful actions, Trump has responded with a deranged willingness to use military force.
Homan has previously profited from the same private detention centers that are now being filled by ICE agents, many of whom are detaining people with no criminal records. One example is 82-year-old Pennsylvania resident Luis Leon, who was taken by ICE agents while trying to get a replacement for his green card last month.
The blossoming outrage over ICE isn’t the “hateful rhetoric” that Homan tries to paint it as. It’s a direct response to the Trump administration’s openly illegal, authoritarian, and inhumane approach to immigration enforcement.