At Conservative Summit In Tampa, Border Czar Tom Homan Tells Protesters, ‘I’m Not Going Anywhere’

by Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix

Tensions between protesters and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are ratcheting up as the Trump administration continues to detain hundreds and sometimes thousands of undocumented immigrants every day.

ICE agents face a nearly 700% increase in assaults against them, and doxxing websites are attempting to reveal officers’ identities and those of their families and children, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

“Let me leave a little message for the protesters — the haters, the criminals, the ones who want to threaten ICE officers,” said U.S. Border Czar Tom Homan at the conclusion of his speech at the Turning Point USA’s Student Action Summit in Tampa on Saturday night.

“I get death threats all the time. You know what, I’m sick of the assholes. You want some? Come get some,” Homan said.

After Donald Trump won back the White House last November, Homan declared that ICE would prioritize deporting noncitizens with criminal histories.

That hasn’t been the case, however. The latest ICE statistics show that as of June 29, the agency had detained 57,861 people, of whom 41,495 — 71.7% — had no criminal convictions, according to the Associated Press.

‘We’re looking for you’

Total ICE arrests have been accelerating in the past six weeks after White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller gave the agency a quota of 3,000 arrests per day, up from 650 a day in the first five months of Trump’s second term in office.

Homan now says that anyone who is undocumented in the United States is vulnerable to being swept up, detained, and deported.

“If you’re in the country illegally, you’re on the table,” he said on Saturday. “It’s not okay to enter this country illegally. It’s a crime. It’s not okay to ignore a judge’s order of deportation. We’re looking for you. We’ve got over 600,000 illegal aliens with criminal records walking the streets of this nation. We got 1.4 million illegal aliens who’ve had due process at great taxpayer expense who were ordered to remove, and never left. They become a fugitive. And we’re looking for you, too.”

Cracking down on undocumented immigration was a top issue in Trump’s winning campaign last year against Kamala Harris and, since he’s returned to the White House, the number of migrants caught crossing the southern border has become historically low.

In June, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) registered the lowest number of nationwide encounters in CBP history, at 25,243. That was 89% lower than the monthly average for years 2021 through 2024, according to DHS statistics.

Homan boasted about those numbers on Saturday, and said that the infusion of new funding from the just signed domestic and tax spending package will only boost DHS’s efforts. “You think we’re doing good now? Just wait to see what happens,” he promised.

The increased raids by ICE have been met by protests that sometimes have sparked confrontations with agents. “The hate is incredible” against ICE agents, Homan said.

“You want to protest ICE, shame on you but have at it. It’s your First Amendment right. You want to disagree with the Trump policies, okay, you have the right to disagree. But I said on Day One: You cross that line and put a hand on an ICE officer, you’re going to jail.”

The 63-year-old border czar set the tone for his 20-minute speech from the start in front of the youthful group of conservatives when he declared himself a “badass” who sometimes uses profanity.

“If I offend anybody here tonight, I don’t give a sh*t,” he said as the crowd exploded in applause.

Tampa protester

About five minutes into his address, an audience member began heckling Homan, asking whether he was an MS-13 member. Homan tore into him.

“This guy ain’t got the balls to an ICE officer,” he proclaimed. “This guy lives in his mother’ basement. The only thing that doesn’t surprise me is that you don’t have purple hair and a nose ring. Get out of here, you loser!”

He went on to say, “If you’re such a badass, meet me offstage in 13 minutes and 50 seconds. I guarantee you, he sits down to pee.”

He continued: “Assholes like this guy — they vilify the men and women of ICE. They think they’re going to intimidate or scare us? I’m not going anywhere. Neither are the men and women of ICE.”

On Friday, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to halt indiscriminate immigration stops and arrests in seven California counties. Immigration advocacy groups had accused the administration in a lawsuit of  systematically targeting brown-skinned people in Southern California during its immigration crackdown.

Bill Essayli, the U.S. attorney for  the Central District of California, disputed the judge’s ruling.

“We strongly disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit and maintain that our agents have never detained individuals without proper legal justification. Our federal agents will continue to enforce the law and abide by the U.S. Constitution.”

Turning Point USA’s Student Action Summit has become an annual summer conference for conservative activists. During this weekend’s event, several members of the Trump administration were in attendance, such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Homeland Security head Kristi Noem, and director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Florida U.S. Reps. Byron Donalds and Anna Paulina Luna also gave speeches over the weekend.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.