Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Thomas Homan said President Trump told ICE and Border Patrol agents that they are free to do their jobs and enforce the nation’s immigration laws.
"[President Trump] basically told the Border Patrol agents and the 20,000 American patriots that work for ICE you can now do your job, you will enforce laws on your books. There's no population of alien that's off the table anymore and we've been waiting on that for a decade now," Homan told Fox News’s Neil Cavuto in an interview.
He did note, however, that a criminal aliens and those who post a threat to public safety will be given a higher priority.
Homan said if you enter the U.S. illegally, you have committed a crime and the law will be enforced "without apology." He also delivered a stern message to the MS-13 street gang in a Daily Caller interview.
"My gang is bigger than theirs and we are going to take them out," he said, adding that the goal is to make good "as much as we can" on President Trump's promise to arrest and/or deport these gang members.
Cavuto told Homan that he's been surprised to see how "pervasive and widespread" the notoriously brutal gang has become.
Homan said it's a "criminal syndicate" that has spread to more than 40 states, making money on prostitution, drugs, sex trafficking and illegal firearms.
"They victimize the communities they live in. They've spread and they've got our attention. ... We're coming after them very hard," said Homan. (Fox News Insider)
Of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States, Homan said 400,000 could be deported this year.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member