Tom Homan, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said he believes former Vice President Joe Biden “lost his mind” for suggesting he would not deport illegal aliens convicted of drunk driving if he were president.
Homan, speaking Wednesday on “Fox & Friends First,” reacted to Democratic presidential candidate Biden’s declaration that he would not allow ICE agents to deport illegal aliens who are caught drunk driving. The former vice president said Monday that, if elected to the White House, he would issue an executive order that would require ICE to only remove individuals who have committed felonies.
Homan did not hold back when responding to the new immigration proposal.
“I think Joe Biden has lost his mind. He was in Congress for decades. He knows how this works. There is no prerequisite, you commit any crime … be removed from the United States if you’re here illegally. That is the way the law is written in statute,” the former ICE chief said Wednesday.
WASHINGTON, DC – MAY 22: Thomas Homan, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, testifies before the House Homeland Security Committee’s Border and Marine Security subcommittee on Capitol Hill on May 22, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images)
“If he doesn’t like what ICE is doing, then he can change the law, but you cannot fire a law enforcement officer for enforcing the law that he’s taking an oath to enforce — laws that were enacted by Congress. It’s such a ridiculous statement,” he continued.
The former ICE chief also pointed to an apparent about-face in Biden’s proposal. During the Obama-Biden administration, Homan led ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division, and oversaw the deportation of one million illegal aliens, including over 100,000 illegal aliens convicted of DUI. Homan said the former vice president never expressed any frustration over this fact during his time in office.
“I oversaw the removal of one million illegal aliens. Over 100,000 of them were DUI convictions, and many didn’t have convictions at all. They were just here illegally. So his tune has totally changed,” he said. “We didn’t hear a peep from him back when he was vice president on this issue.”
Compared to other contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination, Biden is still considered one of the moderate voices on immigration. While Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts have openly called for the decriminalization of illegal immigration and a moratorium on deportations, Biden has mostly resisted pressure to veer that far left. However, he has still called for the abolishment of a number of Trump immigration policies.
Notably, ICE conducted a higher rate of deportations under the Obama administration than in the Trump administration. Immigration-rights activists have not let the former vice president forget that roughly three million deportations took place during his tenure.
Roughly 29 people die a day from drunk driving-related accidents, according to information provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This statistic, Homan said, demonstrates how much a public safety threat drunk driving is in the country. (RELATED: Rocks, Tear Gas, And Riot Shields: Mexico Blocks Advancing Migrant Caravan)
“Whether it’s a misdemeanor or a felony, it is a public safety threat and over 10,000 lives a year are lost. So, again, ICE is going to enforce this law,” Homan concluded.
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