The assassin who opened fire on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility Wednesday intended to kill federal officers, according to border czar Tom Homan, who has long warned hostile political rhetoric against immigration enforcement fuels violence.
“I don’t think he shot at illegal aliens,” Homan, who says he can no longer live at home due to constant threats on his life, told Newsmax’s “Finnerty.” “The agents that we’re talking to, agents I’ve talked to, said he was shooting at the building. Shooting at a van.
“The van had aliens inside. I think he meant to kill an officer. But the vans are dark. They’re tinted dark. So I think he was just shooting in the van hoping to kill an ICE officer.
“He may not even know there’s aliens in the van, but he shot into the building.”
The indiscriminate shooting into the ICE facility before the van shows he was not targeting aliens but government officials, according to Homan. FBI Director Kash Patel shared photos of “Anti-ICE” markings on the ammunition left at the scene by the suicide assassin.
“Matter of fact, some of the bullets went into where the director sits,” Homan continued. “He shot many rounds into the building. He went down the whole length of the building and he concentrated on the van.
“He saw activity. He saw officers coming in and out of the van because what they’re doing is dropping off aliens and picking up. So I think he’s just firing at the van hoping to hit an ICE officer, but he didn’t.
“And it’s tragic, and by the grace of God, an ICE officer was not hit or killed today.”
Homan has no doubt the assassin was a radicalized leftist determined to strike at President Donald Trump’s officials and his immigration policy in a political assassination.
“Look, I’ve been saying since March, I was the first guy to say, ‘look, if the rhetoric doesn’t tap down, there’s going to be bloodshed,'” Homan told host Rob Finnerty. “Someone’s going to die.
“And of course, I was called a fearmonger by the left, and, you know, ‘how dare I say that?'”
Homan, who led ICE under the first Trump administration, said the attack was the third such shooting in Texas alone recently, citing previous incidents at a Customs and Border Protection training site and a detention facility in Alvarado, Texas.
“Hateful rhetoric” from political figures and media commentators is emboldening extremists, Homan warned.
“The hateful rhetoric is convincing that percentage of the left that have lost their minds, and empowers them to take action,” Homan said. “If a U.S. senator or U.S. congressman can call ICE terrorists and Nazis that empowers these crazy people to take action.”
The interview also touched on the challenges ICE officers face amid heightened hostility. Homan revealed that due to credible threats, his family now lives separately for safety, and ICE agents have been forced to wear masks since April to avoid doxing and harassment.
“They’re mothers and fathers, too,” Homan said, noting the government is moving to “hardening” ICE facilities and better equipping agents in the field for safety. “They put on a vest and a gun every day to enforce the laws Congress wrote. If people don’t like what ICE is doing, they should take it up with Congress.”
Homan also rejected a proposal by California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom to prohibit ICE agents from wearing masks while on duty, saying federal law supersedes state directives.
“We’re going to continue doing what we’re doing,” Homan said. “I believe federal law trumps state law every time. So ICE agents will continue doing what we’re doing.
“So good luck with that.”
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