Tom Homan on U.S. immigration policy: ‘We absolutely are’ protecting human dignity

CNA Staff, Feb 14, 2025 / 09:15 am (CNA).

Addressing concerns raised by Pope Francis about the U.S. government’s initiation of a mass deportation program, U.S. border czar Tom Homan defended the morality of the Trump administration’s enforcement policies, saying the administration’s approach is saving lives and preventing human trafficking.

“What the pope needs to understand is that President Trump and I have been very clear that our prioritization right now are public safety threats and national security threats,” Homan said in a Feb. 13 interview on EWTN’s “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo.” 

When asked about whether the administration is respecting the dignity of deportees, Homan, a lifelong Catholic, responded: “We absolutely are.” 

Strong border enforcement, Homan went on to emphasize, reduces tragic deaths and exploitation suffered by migrants and citizens alike. For example, he noted that a sizable percent of female migrants who “make that journey through the cartels get sexually assaulted.”

“So when President Trump has illegal immigration down 90%, how many women aren’t being sexually assaulted? How many children aren’t dying crossing the river? How many women and children aren’t sex trafficked in this country? How many Americans aren’t dying from fentanyl poisonings?” Homan said. “President Trump’s policies save lives.”

“We have a right to have a secure border,” Homan noted. “We have the right to our sovereignty, just like the Vatican,” he added.

Referencing the Vatican’s tough new penalties for illegal entry into its own territory, which include fines from $10,000 to $25,000 and prison sentences from one to four years, Homan said the Vatican State’s penalties are “more severe” and “more extreme” than those of the United States.

Supports funding cuts to end ‘magnet for illegal immigration’

When asked about federal funding cuts for Catholic Charities and other nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that serve migrants, Homan said that when organizations help make the process easier for people illegally crossing the border, “you are feeding a monster that kills thousands of people every year.” 

“The U.S. government, we’re going to be out of the business of this because it’s just, it’s a magnet for more illegal immigration to come,” Homan said of the government’s decision to cut funding for migrant services. “We’ll leave it up to, you know, the way it used to be,” he said, referring to private, charitable funding.  

“I’ve gotten reports that there have been U.S. citizens show[ing] up at a Catholic Charities place and they were turned down when they asked for help because they weren’t getting paid for it,” Homan revealed, saying investigations into these alleged activities are underway.

Labor and sex trafficking: finding the children 

Homan said Trump has commissioned him to track down hundreds of thousands of unaccompanied migrant children that were brought into the country during the Biden administration. While some may be safe and with family, many were likely trafficked by cartels, he said.

“President Trump gave me three things: to secure the border, run a deportation operation, and find these children,” Homan said. 

“Under the last administration, over half a million children were separated from their families, put in the hands of criminal cartels to enter this country illegally,” Homan said. “And who knows what happened to them during that journey? I can tell you many of them were sexually assaulted. I know. I’ve done this for three and a half decades. I know how these groups operate.” 

Homan indicated that many of these children “have been sex trafficked and forced labor traffick[ed] in this country, and we’re already finding them.” 

Source: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/262211/tom-homan-on-us-immigration-policy-we-absolutely-are-protecting-human-dignity