First appearance on FOXFormer President Trump's top immigration enforcement official is trying to sound the alarm about Vice President Kamala Harris' “open borders” policies and the truth about the crisis on the southern border, even as she argues she is the right candidate to tackle the border issue.
Tom Homan, a Fox News contributor and former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under former President Trump, is preparing to host a series of virtual town halls with his nonprofit organization. Border 911 Co., Ltd.
He plans to use the town hall meeting to educate people on the facts about the impacts of the ongoing crisis at the southern border, including sex trafficking and the smuggling of fentanyl into the United States.
Mexican government buses migrants to US border as illegal immigration becomes central election issue
As part of that, Homan has challenged claims that Harris is taking a tough stance on border security, after Harris recently touted that “fixing the border is hard, but so is Kamala Harris.”
President Trump and Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Thomas Homan speak during a law enforcement roundtable on sanctuary cities in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on March 20, 2018. (Javin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Border 911, led by border and national security experts from both Republican and Democratic administrations, Publish your video Rather, they point out that Harris' past statements contradict that narrative.
These include saying he is open to “starting from scratch” with ICE, saying he supports decriminalizing illegal border crossings and “sanctuary” cities laws, and, as a senator, likening ICE to the Ku Klux Klan.
“Kamala Harris wants everyone to believe she's now a border hardliner, but her rhetoric and policies dating back to her time as district attorney in San Francisco make her position clear,” Homan, who has served under multiple administrations, told Fox News Digital. “In fact, she is an open border extremist and, along with Joe Biden, she personally bears responsibility for the current crisis.”
Harris changes position on border and illegal immigration, promising 'pragmatic' approach on campaign trail
Republicans and the Trump campaign have zeroed in on the border, including Harris' role in addressing the root causes of migration. They are linking the historic highs seen during the border crisis to the policies of the Biden-Harris administration, including an end to Trump-era policies they see as successful in controlling the border.
Conservatives have sought to portray Harris as an extremist against illegal immigration, pointing to many of the comments made in the video just as her campaign has tried to pitch her as the right candidate for border security.
A Harris campaign adviser told Fox News last month that Harris' position was “formed by three years of effective governance as part of the Biden-Harris Administration.”
Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Leadership Conference in Washington, DC on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Martin)
Her campaign said she believes illegal border crossings are unlawful and supports “ensuring that we continue to have adequate resources to enforce our nation's laws, prioritize the detention and deportation of individuals who pose a threat to public safety and national security, and ensure compliance with immigration proceedings and decisions, including deportation.”
More broadly, her support Bipartisan Senate Bill The bill, which emerged from negotiations in the House of Representatives earlier this year, would increase funding for the border, including bed space for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and mechanisms to limit the number of asylum seekers entering the U.S. Conservatives said the bill would simply enshrine a mass influx of illegal immigrants.
For more coverage on the border security crisis, click here
“The only 'plan' Donald Trump has for securing the border is separating mothers from their children and carrying xenophobic signs at the Republican National Convention. He ruined a bipartisan border security deal because to Donald Trump it was not a solution, it was a problem,” Kevin Munoz, a spokesman for the Harris-Waltz campaign, said in a statement.
“Like everything Donald Trump has done, he has never helped the country; he has only looked out for his own interests. There is only one candidate in this race who will fight for a bipartisan solution to strengthen border security – Vice President Harris,” he said.
Click here to get the FOX News app
But Homan said he's not trying to tell voters who they should choose in November, just present the facts.
“We want to present the American people with the truth and let them make their own decision,” he told Fox News Digital.
