The following is the transcript of the interview with Tom Homan, Trump administration border czar, that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on March 29, 2026.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We begin with White House Border Czar Tom Homan, who was tasked by the president to help oversee ICE efforts following the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti earlier this year out in Minneapolis. Good morning to you, sir.
TOM HOMAN: Good morning.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So Congress is gone until mid-April. Will the president compel them to come back and sort this out?
HOMAN: Well, look, I hope so. I mean, they got to- they got to fund the Department of Homeland Security. Again, we’re talking about the Department of Homeland Security, and we’re in an increased threat posture right now because what’s going on in the world, we’ve got to keep this country safe, which means we got to we got to fund the members of the Coast Guard and, and CISA and- and Secret Service and all these other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security. I know the president found a way to pay TSA workers so we can get the American public through those lines and he also came up with the idea of sending ICE agents to the airport, which has had an impact. So we just need to get the department funded. They want to talk about, you know, immigration policies. We can talk about that. But, why do you got to hold the rest of the DHS hostage to do that? Let’s sit down and talk. I’ve been talking to them for the last two weeks.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah, but just to be clear, the president is not forcing lawmakers to come back to Washington now. He’s going to wait until mid-April to do this?
HOMAN: Look- and the American people hold Congress responsible. They’re on vacation right now while tens of thousands of DHS employees aren’t being paid —
(CROSSTALK)
MARGARET BRENNAN: — Right. But Republicans control both chambers –
HOMAN: — And that’s what happened at the airports —
MARGARET BRENNAN: — That’s the- this is the president’s party.
(CROSSTALK ENDS)
HOMAN: The Democrats shut, the Democrats shut down DHS. They voted to shut down DHS because they simply won’t fund DHS, because they want to change ICE policies, so ICE is less effective in the interior. Remember why we’re here. We’re here because the last four years of an open border, millions of people are in this country illegally, many public safety threats, national security threats, and we’re out seeking them and arresting them. And they simply don’t like ICE enforcing the law.
(CROSSTALK)
MARGARET BRENNAN: — Well
HOMAN: They proved that the last four years.
MARGARET BRENNAN: — The bill that —
HOMAN: — They didn’t – let ICE enforce the law.
(CROSSTALK ENDS)
MARGARET BRENNAN: – The bill that passed the Senate was bipartisan, and it did have a lot of the funding for the agencies you just laid out there. The issue was specific to parts of ICE, but- but it seems like the White House really didn’t force your party to get in line here, because that Republican controlled Senate did pass a funding bill. The White House didn’t get the House of Representatives leadership on board with that. In fact, the Speaker, Mike Johnson, said that bill was a joke. Why wasn’t the White House able to get both parties- both heads of the party, the president controls on the same page?
HOMAN: Look, I’ve been up on the hill. I’ve been in these meetings. I’ve met with lawmakers from both sides. This isn’t a White House issue. This is the Democrats shutting down the Department of Homeland Security.
(CROSSTALK)
MARGARET BRENNAN: — So did you support the Republican bill in the Senate that passed?
HOMAN: — I’ve been in these meetings, they, they —
(CROSSTALK ENDS)
HOMAN: I support Congress opening up the entire government, the entire DHS, and not holding people in DHS hostage because they don’t like–
(CROSSTALK)
MARGARET BRENNAN: — So no.
HOMAN: — immigration enforcement.
MARGARET BRENNAN: — You weren’t onboard with the Senate bill?
HOMAN: — I support opening up the entire government, I’m with the president.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay. Well —
HOMAN: — I missed that. Say that again, ma’am.
(CROSSTALK ENDS)
MARGARET BRENNAN: So you were not in favor of the bill that passed the Senate, which the Republican leaders I got it–
HOMAN: — I support the president of the United States in getting DHS fully funded and operating.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay, so tell me- so the President did direct DHS to use other pots of emergency cash to pay these TSA officers, and they’re supposed to receive paychecks as early as tomorrow. Does that mean that the system is going to become unclogged. Do they actually have to show up to work to get paid?
HOMAN: Yeah, I think it’s certainly going to help, because TSA agents have left the job because they got it, you know, whether it’s driving Ubers or finding other jobs so that- so they can feed their families and pay the rent. So I’m hoping with this- this change that President Trump put in place with- was with Secretary Markwayne Mullen, that more will come back to work. Until then, ICE will remain in airports to take those jobs that to secure the airport and check- check identification and check exit lanes where people enter to exit. To do the jobs that don’t require the enhanced TSA screening so we can get more TSA screeners on the X-ray machines, to open up more lanes, so ice is there to do the job, to get TSA screeners back to the line, and hopefully open more lines, get the American public through the airport.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay. Well, there’s like, 500 TSA officers who have quit. Do you expect to be able to rehire them, and we have some big events like the World Cup coming up in June. Are we going to have problems at airports for the foreseeable future?
HOMAN: Look, we’re going to continue a nice presence there, and until the airports feel like they’re in- they’re in 100% you know, in a posture where they can do no normal operations. If less TSA agents come back, that means we’ll keep more ICE agents there. The President has been clear. He wants to secure those airports, especially, as I said earlier, in an increased threat posture, we need to secure those airports. ICE is there to help our brothers and sisters in TSA. We’ll be there as long as they need us, until they get back to normal operations and feel like those airports are secure.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay, so the- you referenced some of this earlier, the reason that we got to this political standoff is because of the differences between Democrats and Republicans on the policy part of this. And back in January, those two Americans, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were shot during immigration actions. Democrats point to that and say this is why they need to force change. We saw that letter you signed, and in it you were very willing. You told lawmakers to expand the use of body cameras to limit enforcement activities at locations like schools and hospitals and require officers to identify themselves. So if you’re willing to make those changes, what’s the harm in legislating them?
(CROSSTALK)
HOMAN: We already made those changes. We already made those changes. You–
MARGARET BRENNAN: But why not put them in law then? If you’re–
(CROSSTALK ENDS)
HOMAN: Matter of fact. Matter of fact. The bill- the bill- the bill they’re holding up right now actually gives $120 million to buy more cameras. I’ve already talked to them. They want to- they want to, you know, talk about policy and legislative policy. Look, if they want to change the law, change the law. We’re enforcing laws they enacted. Because I told them–
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, they are trying to write new law.
HOMAN: Name- No, give me- give me one instance. And there’s not one Democratic lawmaker that can give me one example. One. A single one, where ICE arrested an illegal alien inside of a hospital. When have we ever arrested an illegal alien inside of a church? The only one that violated the sanctuary of a church was Don Lemon and that group. You know, we- we have not made those arrests, and even though we don’t have a sensible location policy, the men and women of ICE have common sense. They don’t go into schools. You know- not- not- I want to make a caveat here. If you’re a significant public safety threat and national security threat, you have no sanctuary. But they- they can’t point to one instance where ICE has made arrests in those what they call sensible locations.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, but there was a policy change in January 2025 where the Trump administration said they weren’t going to be, you know, have their hands tied in terms of those sensitive locations. So- so that was a shift.
HOMAN: Because- because- because, as I said, a significant public safety threat or national security threat does not have a sanctuary in this country. We’re going to find them. We’re going to arrest them. However, you can’t point to one instance when we actually went into a church and school because we try very hard to wait for people to leave places. We wait for them. We arrest them in their home or arrest them in their community. We try very hard not to go into those sensitive locations because we know there’s an issue there. So that’s what I’ve been telling the members on the Hill. As far as body cameras, the first thing I did in Minneapolis is bring many body cameras there so everybody had a body camera. There is a plan in place right now for CBP and ICE to go body cameras across the entire agency. However, the money to do that is sitting with the Congress fighting over the shutdown.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay. Well, one of the policy changes has to do with warrants, requiring specifically ICE to secure a judicial warrant from a judge before entering a home to make an arrest. And that would be a change to the current ICE policy of relying on some administrative warrants. Listen to the DHS secretary during his confirmation hearing.
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HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY MARKWAYNE MULLIN: I said, we will not enter a home or a place of business without a judicial warrant, unless we’re pursuing the individual that runs into a place of business or a residence- or a- or a house.
(END SOUND ON TAPE)
MARGARET BRENNAN: So the Secretary agreed to that change. When does that take place?
HOMAN: I- I think we’re already in discussions on that. You know, there are certain sections of law on a Section I-205, where it’s legally- you are illegally able to enter a home and a district court has- has upheld that. But these are discussions we’re having right now. I’m talking- I talk to Secretary Markwayne Mullin every day, several times a day. We’re talking with members of the White House. We’re already working all these policies, not really policy and how we- it’s about execution. Again, the laws are the laws. If they don’t like the law to allow us entry into the home, then change the law. But it’s also they want an arrest warrant to just arrest an illegal alien. There’s nothing in federal law says that. Matter of fact, the law that Congress wrote says you can arrest an illegal alien with an administrative warrant. That’s what the federal statute says. Again, but they want- they want judicial warrants just to arrest an illegal alien. They’re asking for changes in policy. That’s really about changes in the law. Again, if they don’t like what ICE is doing, they can change the law. It’s that simple.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, I appreciate your argument about changing the law. There are many who would like to but there’s also the question of interpretation of existing law, and the acting ICE Director, Todd Lyons, had sent a memo in May saying: “DHS counsel reinterpreted existing law to allow for agents to make arrests without a judicial warrant.” When we heard the new secretary say they won’t enter without a judicial warrant- was Secretary Mullin stating the current policy? Are you changing the Trump policy going forward from where it was in May?
HOMAN: I’m not going to speak for Secretary Mullin, but I think it was clear he’s looking at he wasn’t the Secretary made that statement. I think he’s looking forward. But one of the first things I did, I’ve asked for a full legal review on that reinterpretation. I want to know exactly what I’m- not, I’m not a lawyer, but I’ve asked DOJ to do a full review on that, and we’ll see where it comes. But I think Secretary Mullin meant what he said. I think he is looking for the future.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we will see where they land. Mr. Homan, thank you very much for your time this morning. Face the issue. Will be back in a minute. Stay with us.