Speaking at an event with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) at New College in Florida on Thursday, Border Czar Tom Homan gave his prediction on what border security will look like for the remaining three years of the Trump Administration.
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00That's why I fight as hard as I fight.
00:12Real quick, closing thoughts by all three of you.
00:15What are the next three and a half years look like in solving the immigration crisis in
00:20America?
00:21One, two, three things that need to happen, should happen, or hopefully will happen?
00:24Well, there's a term that I've been using over these last 50 days, and that word is
00:28velocity.
00:29The amount of action that the Trump administration has done in these 50 or 60 days has been unprecedented.
00:36I hope that continues for the next three and a half years.
00:39I hope we don't slow down.
00:41I think there's so much change that can be done, not only at the border, not only about
00:46removing individuals, but also on that legal side, and really need to fix that, because
00:51it is being abused, as the governor said, and so there's a lot that needs to continue
00:58to be done on border security and on immigration.
01:01So if the pace continues, we'll see if folks can keep up with it.
01:06I think there's a lot of folks that are tired, not Tom, but others, 60 days or so in, but
01:14that pace needs to continue.
01:15I think that's what the American people voted for last November.
01:18They didn't vote for 60 days of it, they voted for four years of it.
01:21And so I'm hopeful that that velocity that we see continues across all the fronts that
01:27we've been talking about here.
01:29First of all, I got a hard job.
01:36You probably don't know this, but I'm 30.
01:41Look, I'm honored to be on stage with Secretary Wolf and Governor Sanchez, who's one badass
01:47governor, I love him.
01:56They both need a haircut.
02:01We have hair.
02:02Again, it all goes back to the job, Chad.
02:09Look, here's why I said earlier, I've seen a lot of tragedies in my lifetime who changed
02:16me.
02:17It made the man I am today.
02:20Again, I started in 1984 as a border patrol agent, I was a special agent, I've done numerous
02:25investigations.
02:26I've seen so much tragedy, so much death, so much terrible things in my life, that I
02:34fight hard today because I know every day that we secure that border, we're saving lives.
02:39Women aren't being raped, children aren't drowning in the river.
02:42And as we remove these public safety threats like TDA, who've raped and murdered young
02:47women, set a woman on fire in a subway, that's why I fight so hard.
02:53So what does the next three, almost, well, just two months shy, four years mean for me?
02:59I will start smiling on TV when we remove every illegal alien public safety threat,
03:07every gang member, every national security threat from this country, they have no right
03:12to be here.
03:13And they need to go.
03:14If they don't want to go on their own, then we're going to hunt them down, and we're going
03:18to deport them.
03:19And I do that with no apology.
03:21That's what we're going to do.
03:23If I accomplish that, I can retire for the third time.
03:27No, I got the greatest wife in the world, best thing ever happened to me, I'm sure you're
03:39in the same spot as I am, who's been through hell.
03:42I got death threats, you see a lot of security detail around me, kids, I got more death threats
03:46than you can imagine.
03:47You know what?
03:48But I'm not going to shut up, I'm not going away.
03:51Bring it.
03:53I'm going to do my job, and President Trump is going to do his job.
03:59What I ask you to do, what I need to tell you, here's what I want you to do.
04:01You see an ICE agent, you see a border patrol agent, you see a Florida state trooper, you
04:06see a cop, walk up to them and just thank them.
04:09Because these men and women are putting it on the line every day, while you're sleeping
04:13in your bed at two o'clock in the morning, there's a border patrol agent standing post
04:17on a dirt trail someplace, who's going to take something on.
04:20A sensor goes off, is it just an illegal alien looking for a better life, or is it a heavily
04:24armed drug smuggler?
04:25They don't know, but they're going to take it on.
04:27I know because I did that job.
04:29So God bless the men and women of the border patrol, God bless the men and women of ICE,
04:33and God bless the men and women who carry a badge and strap it to their hip every day
04:37to keep us all safe.
04:39That's what you need to do.
04:40Well, I think over the next three and a half, four years, we've already established Florida
04:57will be leading the states in this fight.
05:01We are on board, and we understand this is a team effort.
05:09When you have a federal system, where there's states and the federal government, you got
05:15to collaborate, you got to work together.
05:16In fact, we've got a proposal to augment the things Tom's talking about.
05:21I know he's reviewed it.
05:22I think they're this close to proving and letting us go out and do even more than we've
05:26already done over the first two months of the Trump administration.
05:30So we're looking forward to that, love to be able to announce something soon.
05:33So that's just where we're going to be on all this stuff.
05:36We're going to ensure the law is enforced in Florida across the board.
05:40We're going to make sure we're doing everything we can to protect the people of the state
05:45from, yes, public safety threats, but also just making sure that our state is orderly,
05:50that we have a legal workforce, and that we're following the rule of law.
05:55So we had four years of frustration under the Biden administration, where you could
06:00have a criminal alien, and they were very lackadaisical, and even taking those people
06:07off the street when you presented to them.
06:09It was just the inmates running the asylum.
06:11They were flying people in who were here, who were coming illegally.
06:15I mean, it was a total, total catastrophe.
06:18And so there's been remarkable progress made at the border.
06:21I knew there would be good progress, but 96% in less than two months is pretty spectacular.
06:27But now we need to see the best effort in American history on the interior enforcement.
06:34And I know that's what Tom is pushing for.
06:36I know there's other folks in the agency.
06:38I know that's what President Trump wants to see.
06:41And if states like Florida step up, I think we'll be able to achieve it.
06:44If states don't do more than what they're doing outside of Florida, that's going to
06:48be much more difficult.
06:49So we're going to lead the way, but some of this is leading by example.
06:53And the number of things that have happened in this country over the last six years in
06:58other states that started with Florida leading, showing results, and then citizens in those
07:04other states asking their representatives, hey, why aren't you doing what Florida's done?
07:08You can write a book about all those things.
07:10And so that's what we're going to keep doing.