Overview
- Tom Homan made the remarks on Fox News' Saturday in America after host Kayleigh McEnany played a clip of Democratic Senate nominee Angie Nixon asserting that ICE would racially profile Black people and could "shoot and kill us."
- Homan said ICE does not arrest people based on skin color and argued agents act on reasonable suspicion for stops and probable cause for arrests, while also saying he "deported people to 180 countries last year."
- Homan described himself as "an equal opportunity deporter" and framed sanctuary cities as forcing more street arrests, which he said raises risks for officers and detainees.
- The exchange comes as reporting shows more than 356,000 deportations so far in fiscal 2026 and as the White House seeks a goal of 1 million removals a year, increasing political pressure on enforcement tactics.
- Recent deadly incidents involving ICE operations in July led to a temporary pause on vehicle stops that was quickly rescinded and have intensified public and electoral scrutiny of how enforcement is carried out.