Politics

Former Acting ICE Director On Why He ‘Broke’ During Battle With House Dems

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• Former acting ICE Director told “Fox & Friends” Monday he wanted to give Democratic Illinois Rep. Jesus Garcia “a beating.”
• Homan testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Friday in a hearing on issues at the border.
• The hearing saw some House Democrats go after Homan’s character and accuse him of racism.

Former acting ICE Director Tom Homan said he wanted to give Rep. Jesus Garcia “a beating” during a House committee hearing Friday, after being accused of racism and indifference to dying children.

The Illinois Democrat called Homan a “racist and said [he] didn’t care about dying children,” according to Homan, who spoke about the argument on “Fox & Friends” Monday morning.

Homan hit back at other House Democrats while defending border agents and the conditions at border facilities. He fought with Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Gerry Connolly of Virginia and more. Connolly accused the Trump administration of giving “hardly humane care” to migrant families.

“Someone calling me a racist and saying I don’t care about dying children, that’s when I broke,” Homan told “Fox & Friends.” “If you notice I hesitated for a minute before I started yelling because I was actually thinking about getting up, throwing that man [Garcia] a beating right in the middle of the room because when you tell someone who has spent their career saving lives that I don’t care about dying children and I’m a racist, that’s where I broke.”

Homan reiterated his restraint on giving Garcias “a beating” and said that he “tried his best” to get Americans to hear the point he was hoping to make, according to a “Mornings On The Mall” interview Monday.

“I tried my best,” Homan said. “They wanted to silence me … Even the audience didn’t want me to speak. I didn’t leave for one sole reason, cuz that’s what the wanted, and I wasn’t gonna give that to them. At one point, I lost it.”

Garcia’s questions to Homan Friday at the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing included asking Homan if he had “ever held a deceased child” in his arms. Homan responded by saying that the comments were “disgusting” before launching into a speech about what he has done for “34 years” as he served his country.

“Mr Homan, do you understand that the consequences of separation of many children will be lifelong trauma and carried across generations?” Garcia asked Homan Friday. “Have we not learned from the interment of Japanese Americans?”

“Mr. Homan, I’m a father. Do you have children? How can you possibly allow this to happen under your watch? Do you not care? Is it because these children don’t look like children that are around you? I don’t get it. Have you ever held a deceased child in your arms?”

Homan began his response by talking about a five-year-old who died in his arms.

“What I’ve been doing in my 34 years serving my nation is to save lives,” Homan fired back. “So for you to sit there and insult my integrity and my love of my country and for children … that’s why this whole thing needs to be fixed — and you’re the member of Congress! Fix it!”

Homan also left Ocasio-Cortez speechless Friday when she tried to say he was the “author” of the “family separation policy.” Homan signed this policy. Ocasio-Cortez told Homan that “legal asylums are not charged with any crime,” to which he responded giving a specific U.S. code.

“When you’re in this country illegally, it’s violation 8, United States Code 1325,” Homan replied. “If you want to seek asylum, you go through a port of entry. Do it the legal way. The Attorney General of the United States has made that clear.”