Border Czar Tom Homan Talks Mass Deportation Plans

CBS News’ Margaret Brennan pressed President-elect Trump’s new border czar Tom Homan on the next administration’s mass deportation plans.

Homan joined Brennan on “Face the Nation” on Sunday, where he was asked about Trump’s plans for the largest deportation operation in history. Brennan asked the former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director for the number of deportations that the administration would consider a success.

Homan directed the conversation to the Biden administration, which took action earlier this year to limit the number of asylum-seekers entering the country through the U.S.-Mexico border.

Homan argued that 80 percent of the Biden administration’s deportation numbers are from Border Patrol arrests that were moved back across the southern border.

“They weren’t interior enforcement arrests,” he said, adding the Biden administration is “playing a numbers game.”

Brennan noted that it’s still a higher number than when Trump was in office the first time. She pressed Homan on whether success would come from arresting and deporting people already within the United States in addition to sealing off the southern border.

“You can compare the number of deportations under Trump versus Biden,” he said. “When you consider a 45-year low in crossings, the number of deportations [is] going to be lower because we don’t have that population to process and deport.”

Brennan continued pressing Homan, questioning what the Trump administration’s measure of success for its day one deportation plans will be.