President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan was grilled by ABC’s Jonathan Karl over the legality of recent mass deportations and “due process” for migrants under the ongoing immigration crackdown, sparking a tense exchange.
In a combative Sunday sit-down on ABC’s This Week, Karl asked how the administration determined the gang affiliations of the 250 migrants deported earlier this month, some of whom were reportedly sent to El Salvador’s notorious terrorism prison.
Homan began by saying there were “various methods” by which Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) teams were identifying people for deportation, slamming the criticism that many deportees don’t have “criminal histories.”
He continued: “A lot of gang members don’t have criminal histories just like a lot of terrorists in this world, they’re not in any terrorist database, right? For instance, most terrorists we arrest that are identified by the U.S. government are later identified through a Title III investigation or through an undercover operation, they’re not in any terror screening database. We know that.”
Detailing the intelligence gathering methods being deployed by ICE, he added: “We have a count on social media. We have a count on surveillance techniques. We have a count on sworn statements from other gang members. We have a count on wiretaps and Title III’s. Everything involved with criminal investigations come into play. So just because someone hasn’t been arrested and charged with a crime yet doesn’t mean they’re [not] a member of a gang.”
Karl then explained that lawyers for some of those deported had spoken with ABC News and argued that their clients deny being members of a gang. The host questioned whether those labeled members of the MS-13 or Tren de Aragua (TdA) gangs had been given any chance to challenge their designation.
“Do they get a chance to prove that before you take them out of the country and put them into a notorious prison in a country that they’re not even from? I mean, do they have any due process at all?” Karl asked.
In reply, Homan didn’t offer any clarity on whether deportees had “due process” but countered Karl with his own question: “Due process? Where was Laken Riley’s due process?”
But Karl didn’t let up, pointing to Jerce Reyes Barrios, a soccer coach deported to El Salvador allegedly because of tattoos he said were mistaken for gang symbols. His lawyer claims he’s no gang member — just a political dissident fleeing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government.
Homan dismissed the concern, saying it would be “litigated in the courts,” while reaffirming the administration’s claim that “every Venezuelan on that plane was a known member of the TdA” gang.
Riley, a college student killed last year by an illegal Venezuelan migrant with a criminal record, has become a symbol for the Trump campaign, and now legislation — the Laken Riley Act — signed into law in January.
Watch above via ABC News.
