No Apologies From Trump Border Czar On Deportation Arrests

What Is Trump's Administration Doing Today?

Trump border czar Tom Homan talked tough on recent and forthcoming deportations during an appearance on a Sunday morning talk show.

The first deportations center on foreign nationals who are in the country illegally and have committed crimes, Homan said, but he said what he called the “aperture” of those targeted for expulsion will expand.

“If you’re in the country illegally, you’re on the table. Because it’s not O.K. to violate the laws of this country,” Homan said during an interview Sunday, January 26 by Martha Raddatz on This Week on ABC.

Asked if all the people deported this past week are criminals, Homan said no. Immigration authorities sometimes find targeted illegal immigrants in the company of other illegal immigrants, which he called “collaterals.”

“If they’re in the country illegally, they’re coming, too,” Homan said.

Collateral arrests, as Homan termed them, often take place in so-called sanctuary cities that don't cooperate with immigration authorities, meaning the arrests can't take place in local jails and instead occur at homes or other places in the community.

Raddatz asked if all the deportation arrests this past week took place in sanctuary cities. Homan said many of them did.