Democratic Lawmaker Explodes on Ex-ICE Chief: ‘You’re Not at the Border Right Now’
Thomas Homan did not get a warm reception at a hearing Friday after touting his credentials as “the only one in this room who’s found dead aliens on a trail.”
Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty
A House Oversight Committee hearing on conditions for migrants at the border exploded into a shouting match Friday when former acting ICE chief Thomas Homan butted heads with Democratic lawmakers. Defending the Trump administration’s immigration policies as measures meant to “save lives,” Homan railed against Democratic lawmakers grilling him over family separations. “I'm the only one in this room who has worn a green uniform and been on that line. I'm the only one in this room who's found dead aliens on a trail that were abandoned by smugglers,” he said.
When Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly went on an impassioned speech condemning the “horror stories” that migrant children were subjected to at the border and the “rationalization” by immigration authorities, Homan attempted at one point to get a word in. “I'm extremely frustrated,” Homan said when Connolly addressed a witness sitting in front of him. “No, Mr. Homan, I'm not calling on you, sir,” Connolly said, before shouting when Homan kept talking over him: “You aren't at the border right now! You're in a hearing room right now! This is my time!” Homan quieted down as a witness testified that immigration authorities had made a “willful decision” not to provide migrants with better conditions, prompting Connolly to finish by saying, “The rule of law is often, for some people, an inconvenient thing.”
I didn't believe what was happening to these children at first. I thought I was reading a horror story. Our children, their children -- it doesn't matter. ANY child within our care is our child.
— Gerry Connolly (@GerryConnolly) July 12, 2019
When will these excuses stop? pic.twitter.com/rldHmHnAJ2
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