(NewsNation) — President-elect Donald Trump’s “border czar” says he will call New York City’s mayor, who previously raised alarms about undocumented migrants with criminal records in the city.
During a Tuesday interview on NewsNation’s “CUOMO,” Tom Homan said, “I plan on calling him either tonight or first thing in the morning. I certainly will meet with him. I’m looking for partnerships. I’m not looking for enemies.”
The city reportedly has some 60,000 undocumented migrants wanted for deportation, with more than 1,000 suspected of being gang members. As the Trump administration advances its immigration crackdown, New York City Mayor Eric Adams is breaking ranks with other Democratic leaders in sanctuary cities.
“I would love to sit down with the border czar and hear his thoughts on how we’re going to address those who are harming our citizens,” Adams said Tuesday during a news conference.
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Homan, a former Immigration and Customs Enforcement official, pledged to address the growing concerns about migrant crime and unaccompanied children at the border, promising aggressive action to protect public safety and vulnerable youth.
U.S. authorities recently encountered 315 unaccompanied children at the border in a single day — enough to fill an entire elementary school in some communities.
Homan emphasized the urgent need to identify and remove criminal migrants while also focusing on rescuing children potentially trapped in human trafficking networks.
“I’m tired of children dying at the border,” Homan said. “I’m tired of children being sexually assaulted by cartels. Some of these kids could be in human trafficking, forced labor or forced sex slavery. We need to rescue these kids and get them back to their families.”
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Homan, who served under six presidents, proposed several policy solutions, including congressional changes to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act to streamline the process for handling unaccompanied minors from different countries. He also advocated for more flexible detention policies for family units.
The former ICE director stressed that his primary goal is identifying and removing criminal migrants while minimizing disruption to other immigrant communities.
Over the years, the number of unaccompanied migrant children has grown significantly. In fiscal year 2015, there were just over 40,000 encounters with unaccompanied minors, and the figure increased under President Barack Obama and Trump.
“I’m also tired of 300,000 children that were released into this country by this administration that they lost track of,” Homan told NewsNation.
After a brief dip during the pandemic, numbers surged again. Since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, more than half a million unaccompanied children have crossed the border.
