The beauty of President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming “Border Czar” Tom Homan is that he has done this job before, so he knows the laws and statutes inside and out, and he’s not afraid to use them. So, when Homan says on Day 1 ICE agents will be deployed in every sanctuary city to root out criminal illegal aliens, believe that it will be done.
Advertisement
A sampling of what’s to come across cities in America is the work of Immigration and Customs Enforcement special Enforcement and Removal Operations arm in Houston, Texas (ICE ERO). ICE ERO is tasked with targeting and arresting at-large non-citizens: those who are a danger to public safety, national security, and border security. FOX 26 embedded with one of their four active fugitive operations teams and reported on their effectiveness. New York City could greatly use this type of operation, but more on that later.
They say the teams conduct intelligence-driven investigations to locate fugitive non-citizens, confirm their identity, and remove them from the community in the safest manner possible.
“The men and women that do this job live in the community as well,” said Linscott. “They all take pride in what they’re doing.”
Houston’s ICE ERO will be one of Trump’s and Homan’s arms to root out and rid our nation of the criminal vermin who are still embedded in our country and plaguing our streets. Such as the horrific subhuman who set a woman on fire on a New York subway, as my colleague Teri Christoph reported.
Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, 33, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala who, according to federal immigration sources, first entered the country illegally on June 1, 2018, was deported a week later and snuck back into the United States at some point.
Once back in the U.S., Zapeta made his way to New York City and was housed at a migrant shelter[.]
Had ICE ERO been on the case in that city, Zapeta-Calil would have been swept up, and the woman might still be alive. Houston’s ICE ERO’s record in 2024 has been particularly effective, even under the hindering thumb of the Biden-Harris administration.
Advertisement
Nearly 90% of the non-citizens ERO arrests are either convicted of or accused of a crime, according to ICE’s data.
ICE data shows through the first three quarters of Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, ERO Houston arrested 7,211 illegally present non-citizens. Of those arrests, 4,995, or 69%, had at least one criminal conviction. 1,340, or 19% had pending criminal charges.
“We far exceeding the national average,” said Linscott.
ICE data shows that national average is closer to 70%.
Homan also plans to use the ICE 287(g) program to greater effectiveness. According to the ICE explainer on 287(g), particular counties and cities have already signed on to partner with ICE in this endeavor.
As of December 2024, ICE has 287(g) JEM agreements with 60 law enforcement agencies in 16 states. ICE also has 287(g) WSO with 75 law enforcement agencies in 11 states.
Texas, of course, leads the way.
Through the 287(g) program, ICE deputizes local or state law-enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration laws and was first implemented as part of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRAIRA).
Under 287(g), ICE-trained police officers screen jailed immigrants, determine immigration status, and hold immigrants for ICE agents to pick up for deportation. Currently, ICE has 287(g) agreements with 75 law enforcement agencies in 20 states, the majority in Texas with 24.
But even law enforcement in soft-on-illegal immigration states and so-called sanctuary cities and counties are ready to back Trump’s and Homan’s play. Sheriff Chuck Jenkins of Frederick County, Maryland, is already waiting in the wings.
Advertisement
“I’m willing to support the president 100%,” said Jenkins, 68, gravel-voiced with a gray buzzcut. “I want to do more, within the law.”
That prospect is spreading fear in immigrant circles, advocates say, and drawing mixed views from residents in this growing county, which backed Democrats in the last two presidential elections. But Jenkins, once dubbed among the nation’s 10 toughest immigration sheriffs by Fox News, sees Trump’s imminent return to the White House as a mandate for a more assertive approach.
For local sheriffs who have long talked tough on immigration, their time has come.
Sheriffs who actually get to enforce the law? What a concept.
Many conservative sheriffs across the U.S., from Texas to California to redder swaths of the northeast, now stand ready to be force multipliers for ICE and its 6,000 agents.
Asked if he supports mass deportation, GOP Sheriff Richard Jones of Butler County, Ohio, replied: “Sure, I do. And so do the American people…. People are tired of this.”
Even more tired are the LEOs who are actually taking the risks and doing the job. Some of them are drawing a line in the sand with their squishy city councils and boards of supervisors.
San Diego County Sheriff Kelly Martinez said she will not be following new policy from the Board of Supervisors that limits her cooperation with immigration authorities unless they have a warrant signed by a state or federal judge.
State law allows the sheriff’s department to help U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in certain ways, even without a judicial warrant.
Sheriff Kelly Martinez declined an interview but sent a written statement.
She said she has authority over the jails, not the board, and her office will keep doing what they’ve been doing — letting ICE interview consenting people in their custody with certain convictions, and notifying ICE of upcoming release dates.
Those convictions include things like sexual abuse, child abuse, battery, assault and drug charges.
Advertisement
San Diego County knows what time it is. The rest of the state of California, Colorado, New York, Massachusetts, and all the other states saying they will “Trump proof” against these policies are about to find out.
