Tom Homan, White House Border Czar, came to Indianapolis Tuesday to talk about the successes of the Trump Administration’s immigration policy and to voice his support for a revived immigration bill that will be filed in the 2026 session.
Homan, who spoke for about 20 minutes as part of a “Fairness for Hoosiers” event held inside the House Chamber, said he came out of retirement twice to work for President Donald Trump. The event was originally scheduled to be in the Statehouse Atrium, but it was moved to the House Chamber, closed to media and the public, and state officials livestreamed the event instead.
Ahead of his second term, Homan said Trump asked him to do three things: secure the border, “run the largest deportation operation this country has seen,” and find over 300,000 missing children.
Currently, the U.S. has “the most secure border in the history of this nation,” Homan said, who claimed border crossings fell from more than 10,000 a day to less than 100 as of Friday. According to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol data, 432,059 people crossed the Southern border of the U.S. through the end of August of this year.
Meanwhile, deportations have increased to 550,000 since Trump took office in January, Homan said, while another 1.6 million people have self deported.
“There is a record number of deportations. We have a lot more to do. We’ve got a lot more that’s coming,” Homan said.
Homan said recently approved funding from Congress will allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hire another 10,000 officers, tripling the size of the workforce, and he said officials hope to triple the number of arrests and deportations.
Homan blamed leaders of sanctuary cities for the arrests of legal immigrants or citizens because they have denied ICE access to jails. So, Homan said, when ICE agents go into communities looking for illegal immigrants, those nearby get swept up in arrests too.
“We’re not turning a blind eye to the oath we took,” Homan said. “Sanctuary cities are going to get exactly what they don’t want: more agents in the community, more work site enforcement. They are going to get more collateral arrests. If you want less collateral arrests, let us in the jail to talk to the person that you locked in the jail cell.”
Chicago news outlets have reported the ICE and Border Patrol officers have been detaining street vendors and ride-share drivers at O’Hare, and citizens who appear to be Hispanic.
Republicans have claimed that upwards of 300,000 children were “lost” beginning last summer, after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security released a report showing that ICE didn’t serve notices to appear in court to 291,000 minors between fiscal year 2019 and May 2024. Additionally, the report claims that another 32,000 were notified but failed to show up for immigration court hearings from fiscal year 2019 to 2023.
By law, after unaccompanied minors from foreign countries are detained at the border, they go into the care of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement, which aims to place children in “the least restrictive setting that is in the best interests of the child,” CBS reported.
The office tries to release children to sponsors, which can include parents, relatives and guardians, and federal policy dictates that the sponsors are vetted through interviews and background checks, according to the report.
Homan said he told Trump that of the three tasks given finding the missing children was the most difficult because children don’t have a paper trail like adults do.
“How do we find a child? Well, we have to count on the paperwork of the sponsor. If that paperwork wasn’t vetted and done right, that’s almost useless too. So we’re out there every day looking for these children,” Homan said.
About 24,000 children have been “rescued,” Homan said.
State Rep. JD Prescott said he will file the Fostering and Advancing Immigration Reforms Necessary to Ensure Safety and Security (FAIRNESS) Bill, which will revive House Bill 1531 from the 2025 session.
House Bill 1531 would have required all levels of Hoosier government to comply with federal detainer requests. It also would’ve banned employers from “knowingly or intentionally” recruiting, hiring or employing people not allowed to work in the U.S.
The bill passed the House 64-26, but died after it wasn’t heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Sen. Liz Brown, R-Fort Wayne, is the chairperson of the committee, and the chair of each committee chooses which bills are heard.
During the event, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said Brown’s decision to hold the bill “set us back at least a full year.”
Brown told the Indiana Capital Chronicle in July that law enforcement came to her with concerns on the bill, which would have required them to honor immigration detainer requests. Detainers are not backed by a judicial finding like a warrant.
Blaming the Biden Administration’s immigration policies, Rokita said “every state is now a border state” and that Indiana “can’t afford to fail to act for a second session in a row.”
“There is no county, and therefore no Indiana, if we don’t have a defined border, one language and a common culture,” Rokita said.
Prescott, R-Union City, said the bill will address immigration retainer requests, ban local governments from limiting or restricting the enforcement of federal immigration laws, and bar employers from “knowingly or intentionally” hiring people not allowed to work in the U.S., among other things.
While border crossings have decreased under Trump, Prescott said states like Indiana have to do their part to address illegal immigrants within the U.S.
“We still have to do our part to make sure that we’re enforcing the law here in our state,” Prescott said. “I am willing to work alongside each and every one of the members of the general assembly to get this bill in its final position.”
Gov. Mike Braun said states have to get involved in immigration enforcement because Republicans don’t have enough of a majority in Congress to pass immigration laws.
As governor, Braun said he’s “made clear” that Indiana is not a safe haven for illegal immigrants. Further, the Indiana Department of Correction has made 1,000 beds available at the Miami Correctional Facility for people under ICE holds, he said.
The next step, Braun said, is for the legislature to pass the FAIRNESS Act.
“I believe states need to lead the way in assisting federal authorities with enforcing our nation’s most fundamental laws,” Braun said. “Let’s get it over the finish line this time.”
Chad Wolf, former acting DHS secretary and current executive vice president at America First Policy Institute, said states should “use every tool in your tool kit” to address illegal immigration.
“A fight for a sovereign nation, one with borders, is a fight worth having,” Wolf said. “I think we’re in a battle for the future of Western Civilization.”
Homan, who was the final speaker of the event, said as Prescott talked about the bill he felt “like a kid in a candy store.”
“Hopefully that becomes law,” Homan said. “Please help President Trump. I think it’s a great bill.”