Sunday morning, president donald Trump’s border CZAR, Tom Homan, insisted in an interview broadcast by ABC that international leaders would not refuse the Trump administration to return migrants to their countries.
“Oh, they’ll take them back,” Homan told host Martha Raddatz when asked what the administration would do with countries that refuse to accept deportees. “We have President Trump in power,” Homan added. “President Trump puts America first.”
“My success will be based on what Congress gives us. The more money you have, the better it will be.”
trump "Border Czar" Tom Homan said "It’s realistic" The success of the mass deportation plan acknowledged that it would require funding from Congress. https://t.co/txbuo4bmhg pic.twitter.com/kqftg1osfy
– This Week (@thisweekabc) January 26, 2025
But hours before that interview aired, Colombian President Gustavo Petro proved Homan wrong. In “Dignified Treatment of Immigrants.”
Studies have shown that undocumented immigrants commit lower crime than U.S. citizens.
“The United States cannot treat Colombian immigrants like criminals,” Petro said. In another post, Petro wrote that sending migrants back on military planes is problematic: (Studies have shown that undocumented immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than U.S. citizens.)
Trump was immediately met with applause when he wrote about the truth cult on Sunday afternoon. Because Petro had already denied both flights, Trump was taking a series of “urgent and decisive retaliatory measures,” including a travel ban. visa sanctions for the Colombian government and its supporters; and He said “emergency 25% tariffs” on Colombian goods coming into the U.S. would increase to 50% in a week. “These actions are just the beginning,” Trump said.
Trump’s sincere social message was that Petro was sending a presidential plane to “facilitate the dignified return” of immigrants, a notice from the president’s office posted just minutes later. The notice also said the Colombian government was studying internal protocols to “ensure the dignified treatment of deported Colombians and ensure that procedures respect the human rights and integrity of each person.” process.
As of 2022, there were 190,000 unauthorized Colombian immigrants in the United States, according to the Pew Research Center. Even more undocumented immigrants came from Mexico, about 4 million, according to Pew data. NBC News reported Thursday that Mexico has denied entry to a U.S. plane carrying migrants. A White House official told NBC that it was “an administrative matter that was quickly resolved.” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and members of her cabinet disagreed with plans for “unilateral expulsion” of Mexicans from the United States before Trump took office, but told them they would be welcomed regardless.
As my colleague Isabela Dias reports, Trump announced administration actions targeting immigration during his first week. They included seeking to end Birthright Citizenship (which a federal judge ruled on Thursday temporarily blocked the order to send 1,500 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, ending Biden’s term in office), Homan said. “This is sending a strong signal to the world,” he told Raddatz in an ABC interview. new york times It was also reported that immigration raids began in Chicago on Sunday.
But for all of Trump’s bluster, even Homan acknowledged in an ABC interview that he cannot deport every undocumented immigrant in the country despite his pledge to enact the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. “I’m realistic,” Homan told Raddatz.
