Border czar Tom Homan says “I don’t like the masks” on ICE officers, but they “have to protect themselves”

Washington — White House border czar Tom Homan said that while he doesn’t like that federal immigration enforcement officers agents wear masks, he believes they need to wear masks to protect themselves against threats and violence.

“I don’t like the masks either,” Homan said in an interview with Ed O’Keefe on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sunday. 

Homan said assaults against Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have increased by 1,500% while threats against them have increased by 8,000%. The Department of Homeland Security said in a Jan. 26 news release that assaults against ICE officers had increased by more than 1,300%. Neither Homan nor the release gave a timeframe for that surge, nor did they give a source for the assault and threat claims. 

“These men and women have to protect themselves,” he said. 

A partial government shutdown centered on DHS began early Saturday as congressional Democrats and the White House remain at odds on reforms to how ICE and Customs and Border Protection carry out immigration enforcement. Their conduct has been increasingly scrutinized since federal agents fatally shot Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota in January. 

Congress left town Thursday without any agreement on DHS funding and lawmakers aren’t expected to return until Feb. 23. 

Requiring immigration agents to wear body cameras and identification, banning them from wearing masks, stopping racial profiling and mandating judicial warrants for arrests on private property are among Democrats’ demands. 

Homan, who said he is not apart of negotiations on DHS funding, called some of Democrats’ demands “unreasonable.” 

“They want to say, stop racial profiling. That’s just not occurring. ICE will detain, briefly detain and question, but question somebody based on reasonable suspicion. It has nothing to do with racial profiling.” Homan said. “There is no racial profiling.” 

On obtaining judicial warrants, Homan said, “that’s not what the federal law requires.” 

“If Congress wants that change, then Congress can legislate. But right now, ICE is acting within the framework of federal statutes enacted by Congress and signed by a president,” he said. 

In a separate interview with “Face the Nation” on Sunday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries refused to budge on Democrats’ demands, saying “dramatic change” is needed “before any DHS funding bill moves forward.” 

“These are common sense things,” the New York Democrat said.