Tom Homan defends ICE operations in Danbury, pushes back on bus stop arrest reports

WASHINGTON, DC: The Trump administration is responding to reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have arrested parents at school bus stops in Danbury, Connecticut, as local officials and immigrant-rights advocates call for an end to the enforcement activity.

White House border czar Tom Homan on Sunday, August 30, said that he was not aware of any arrests at bus stops, while defending ICE’s authority to arrest people subject to federal immigration enforcement. Democratic officials, including Senator Richard Blumenthal and Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, have disputed the administration’s characterization of the arrests.

Tom Homan denies knowledge of bus-stop arrests as reports draw attention

Homan pushed back on the reports during an appearance on CNN’s 'State of the Union', where host Dana Bash asked whether ICE officers were detaining parents at school bus stops.

“ICE is out there enforcing law that was enacted by Congress. We’re arresting illegal aliens. Are some parents? I’m sure many are, but we are not out there to terrorize children, rather to look for illegal aliens with final orders of removal, those who have overstayed, those who are criminals, and we’re out there looking for them and arresting them,” Homan argued.

When asked specifically about bus stops, Homan said he was unaware of such arrests. He said ICE was enforcing removal orders issued by federal judges and that there is no “safe harbor” for people who are criminals or national security threats.

Earlier in the week, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy criticized the federal agents and said that ICE had been arresting parents at school bus stops in Danbury. Murphy claimed agents waited until children were on buses before making arrests, leaving some children to return home without their parents.

The reports have also prompted action from the Danbury school system. The district sent parents a notice saying bus drivers could return students to school if they felt uncomfortable dropping them off at their regular stops.

Democratic officials challenge Trump administration’s account

Blumenthal, in an interview with CBS News on Sunday, said roughly 100 people had been detained or arrested and claimed only six or seven had criminal histories.

“So the administration saying that it’s detaining the worst of the worst or deporting people with serious criminal history is absolutely belied by the facts. That’s not what’s happening. In fact, they are seizing people. Many of them have legal status in this country. They may have come here seeking asylum, and they are doing it in a way that is repugnant and inhumane. The point is cruelty,” he said.

Blumenthal said he planned to walk through Danbury with the mayor and was considering a forum through the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations to examine the federal enforcement activity in Connecticut.

Lamont also criticized the reports, saying he was “horrified by the stories shared by activists in Danbury.” “Parents detained dropping their children off at the school bus. 3 year old children watching ICE forcibly detain someone outside their daycare window. Rounding up people at random to meet a quota doesn’t make our communities safer,” he wrote.