Tom Homan, Donald Trump’s acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is now walking back hardline comments he made about arresting people who interfere with immigration enforcement—after California Governor Gavin Newsom publicly dared him to follow through.
Over the weekend, Homan said he was ready to arrest “anyone” who got in the way of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents rounding up undocumented immigrants. That set off a firestorm as protests surged in Los Angeles against federal immigration crackdowns. Newsom didn’t hesitate to fire back: Come arrest me.
But by Monday morning, Homan was changing his tune—and pointing fingers.
“I’m not biting on that,” Homan said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “The NBC reporter who interviewed me is very dishonest. We did a 20-minute interview, and he cut out a little clip. It takes my words out of context.”
According to Homan, his comments were not aimed at Newsom or other officials, but at protestors who he says cross legal lines.
“They have a right to protest, they have the First Amendment right, but they can’t cross that line,” Homan said. “They can’t cross that line of impediment, they can’t cross that line of putting their hands on officers, they can’t cross the line in knowingly concealing an illegal alien, because they’re all federal crimes. They’re all there in statute and they will be prosecuted.”
Newsom, who has publicly condemned the president’s order to send troops into Los Angeles, directly challenged Homan to arrest him if he meant what he said.
“When he asked the question, does that include Mayor [Karen] Bass, Gov. Newsom, and I was clear—they haven’t crossed the line, but they’re not above the law either,” Homan said.
“If they commit a crime, I certainly will ask for prosecution. That’s what was happening. I never threatened to arrest Gov. Newsom, so I’m not biting off of that,” he added. “That reporter was dishonest. Let them play the whole 20-minute interview, and you’ll see a whole different discussion that we had.”
Whether the quote was twisted or not, Homan’s backpedaling suggests even he knows the line between enforcing the law and threatening elected officials is one you don’t cross lightly.
In the end, Newsom called his bluff, and Homan backed off. Watch the video below.
