Tom Homan, the Trump administration’s “border czar,” forcefully dismissed Democratic lawmakers’ demands to overhaul U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, even as backlash grows over aggressive enforcement tactics and Congress remains deadlocked over funding for Department of Homeland Security.
The dispute is tied to a high-stakes budget standoff that has pushed DHS into a partial shutdown. Democrats have conditioned support for longer-term DHS funding on a set of reforms aimed at limiting what they describe as overly broad and opaque immigration policing. Republicans, by contrast, argue Democrats are using the funding deadline to score political points and weaken enforcement.
In a televised interview on Face the Nation, Homan said Democrats’ ICE demands are “unreasonable,” while emphasizing he personally is not negotiating the DHS funding bill. He was responding to a list of “10 demands” Democrats sent earlier in February to congressional Republican leaders—proposals that include requiring ICE to halt racial profiling, banning agents from wearing masks, and prohibiting officers from entering private homes without a judicial warrant.
Homan disputed the charge of racial profiling, saying officers make stops based on “reasonable suspicion.” He cited a recent decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that allowed officers to consider factors such as brown skin or speaking Spanish when forming grounds for a stop—an element Democrats and civil-rights advocates say invites discriminatory sweeps.
On masks, Homan argued that officers need to conceal their identities for protection, while opponents counter that most American law enforcement operates without face coverings and that masks reduce accountability in already tense encounters. The debate has been sharpened by heightened scrutiny of enforcement actions—particularly after clashes and shootings linked to federal immigration operations in Minneapolis, which Democrats cite as evidence reforms are urgent.
The political messaging battle played out across Sunday news shows. On Fox News Sunday, Chris Coons said public outcry pushed the White House to negotiate on ICE oversight, even though DHS still had some funding runway. Meanwhile, Markwayne Mullin told State of the Union that Democrats were engaging in “political theater” and not negotiating in good faith.
With Congress heading into a break week, ICE conducts immigration policing is unresolved in the near term.
