White House Border Czar Tom Homan insisted Sunday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will keep conducting vehicle stops.
The stops were briefly paused after agents were involved in two fatal shootings. President Donald Trump reversed the directive roughly a day after it was issued, Axios reported. While a broader review of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations is ongoing, vehicle stops will continue now that the agency has implemented oversight changes, Homan told “State of the Union” host Dana Bash.
“We always evaluate training,” Homan said. “It’s something law enforcement does all the time. So I wouldn’t say — now that we’re evaluating some additional training — that mistakes were made. We will see. It’s all being reviewed. We will see where it lies.”
“Well, we have seen with our own eyes mistakes were made, deadly mistakes were made,” Bash responded, noting there had been “at least five” such incidents.
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Pressed on how a review could yield results during the roughly one-day pause, Homan said changes had already been made and did not require halting the stops while a review of ICE procedures continues.
“The acting director of ICE [David Venturella] did make some immediate changes. Right now, on all vehicles stops, there’s at least one body camera on site to record the entire event,” Homan explained. “Journeymen agents are assigned to each stop. … It’s all under review. The training’s under review. The stops are under review.”
“So, the review hasn’t stopped. We just haven’t stopped the vehicle stops because those changes have already been made. So we’re going to continue doing those stops. Changes have been made,” Homan told the CNN host.
Bash then asked him to specify the changes, and Homan again pointed to the body-camera requirement, which he said acting ICE leadership had directed.
“We’ve got to make sure that on every vehicle stop … [there’s] at least one body camera on those vehicle stops … so whether the officer did something right or did something wrong, whether the alien did something right or wrong, it’s on video,” Homan said. “And I’m a big supporter of video cameras … because I want the American people to see what that officer saw when he took whatever action they took.”
(DCNF)
