Border czar Tom Homan says ICE hunger strikers would be force-fed 'if it gets bad enough'

NEWARK, NEW JERSEY: Border czar Tom Homan said Tuesday that ICE detainees participating in hunger strikes could be force-fed if officials determine their health is at serious risk.

Speaking with Laura Ingraham on The Ingraham Angle, Homan addressed the escalating controversy surrounding a detention facility in New Jersey and defended conditions inside ICE custody.

Tom Homan responds to hunger strike at New Jersey facility

The comments came after days of protests at Delaney Hall, a privately operated detention center in Newark that is facing allegations of poor and inhumane conditions. 

Reports of alleged conditions inside the facility prompted hundreds of detainees to launch labor and hunger strikes. Demonstrations outside the center later escalated, culminating in clashes on Monday between protesters and immigration officers.

During the unrest, ICE agents reportedly used pepper spray on Senator Andy Kim. New Jersey Gov Mikie Sherrill, who also attended the demonstration, said she was denied entry to inspect the site.

Homan pushed back sharply on claims that ICE detention facilities operate under substandard conditions. “Go to ice.gov and look at ICE’s detention standards. The highest detention standards in the industry, better than any state prison, county jail, or federal lockup,” he said. “Highest detention standards in the industry. Deaths in custody, they talk about people being mistreated, deaths in custody, and ICE is a fraction of any state prison or federal facility, a fraction.”

Homan also dismissed the idea that hunger strikes would pressure authorities to change detention practices or release detainees.

“Look, I have done this since 1984. Hunger strikes never work. We are not going to change what we do because someone goes on a hunger strike. And matter of fact, if it gets bad enough and the prisoners feel like they’re putting themselves in extreme danger, medical danger, then we’ll force-feed them,” he said. 

“We will get a court order and force-feed them. Hunger strikes do not work. So they can put themselves in a position where they’re not eating, but it’s not going to cause them to be released. We are going to continue to arrest people. We’ll continue to detain people.”

Tom Homan doubles down on deportation push

The remarks echoed comments Homan made earlier this month during the Border Security Expo in Phoenix, Arizona, where he praised immigration officers and predicted enforcement numbers would continue climbing.

Officials at the event said immigration authorities arrested more than half a million undocumented immigrants last year and were averaging roughly 1,200 arrests per day. Notably, President Trump had campaigned on reaching one million deportations annually.

“If you think last year's historic number is good, wait till next year, and we have 10,000 more agents on the border. You ain't seen s*** yet,” Homan said in opening remarks at the Expo. “This year will be a good year. Mass deportations are coming.”

The tone appeared to contrast with Homan’s more measured messaging earlier in the year after two U.S. citizens were killed during an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis. Their deaths triggered criticism from lawmakers in both parties and renewed calls for changes at the Department of Homeland Security.

Trump later offered what he described as “a little bit of a softer touch” on immigration enforcement and replaced Kristi Noem with Markwayne Mullin as homeland security secretary.