Outspoken former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Thomas Homan slammed congressional Democrats for their “pathetic” and “sad” “dishonesty” during a House Judiciary Immigration and Citizenship Subcommittee hearing Thursday on the border crisis.
His pronounced exasperation with the Democrats stemmed from what he believed were committee chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s glaring double standards. During the hearing, she reportedly complained about President Donald Trump using a national emergency order to bypass the divided Congress and “reprogram” government funds toward building a border wall and detaining illegal aliens.
Given a a chance to respond, Homan noted that former President Barack Hussein Obama had done the same thing.
Listen:
(Source: Fox News)
“I’d like to remind you that under the Obama administration, we did that most of the years he was president,” he said. “We moved money around [the Department of Homeland Security] — it’s called reprogramming. We did that under the Obama administration and I don’t remember any hearings on that.”
He also pushed back on false claims by both congressional Democrats and the liberal mainstream media that the incarceration of illegal aliens in “cages” is an unprecedented “evil” that began with Trump.
“[T]he cages were built under the Obama administration,” he said. “I was there. Family detention. We had 100 family beds under the Obama administration. We built 3,000 more. So when there was a surge in FY14 and FY15 on the border, Congress was quick to give all the money we needed to build the tent facilities, the transportation contracts.”
“We reprogrammed money out of the majority of the years he was president,” he continued. “That was fine. Under the Obama administration FY12, we removed 409,000 people, half of what was removed last year. There were no hearings on that. So this is about transparency. Let’s be factual about it.”
Jayapal replied by claiming she’d opposed the Obama administration’s policies as well.
“I didn’t like it under the Obama administration either,” she said.
Yet records show there isn’t a single example of Jayapal accusing Obama of using his strict immigration policies to try and “purify” America by ridding it of non-white minorities.
“But be honest with the American people,” Homan tried to point out in rebuttal as the angry Democrat lawmaker began banging her gavel and demanding his silence.
“You can’t point out faults in the Trump administration [while ignoring] what happened under the Obama administration. That’s dishonesty. It’s pathetic and it’s sad,” he said.
Learn more about the conditions seen under the Obama administration below:
The Democrat lawmaker ignored Homan’s point.
“I didn’t like it under the Obama administration,” she repeated in stark contrast to the facts. “And I’ll remind you, Mr. Homan, that you also testified before Congress in support of the Obama’s priorities enforcement program before the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 19, 2016, which had a very different approach.”
“Can I respond to that?” Homan then asked.
“No, you may not,” Jayapal replied.
“Of course not,” Homan concluded.
To be clear, the former ICE director did testify before the GOP-led Senate in mid-2016, albeit under vastly different conditions. Unlike congressional Democrats, who take issue with the Trump administration enforcing America’s immigration laws, congressional Republicans had been concerned that the Obama administration’s enforcement actions were lacking.
Luckily for Homan, he was allowed a chance to speak further later in the hearing by Republican committee member Rep. Ken Buck.
“I find it very offensive that anybody would compare any federal employee, frankly, to the Gestapo running Nazi concentration camps,” he said, referencing the disturbing accusations about ICE agents made frequently by Democrats such as Jayapal.
“That is very offensive. I have 15 seconds, and I yield to you,” he said before yielding the remainder of his time to Homan.
“Look, you want to know why there’s 50,000 people in detention?” the former ICE director said. “You want to know why there are a million illegal entries into the United States? You want to know why we have these issues? Because you have failed to secure the border. You guys failed to work with this president to close the three loopholes we’ve asked for two years to close.”
Fact-check: TRUE.
Ted Cruz gets to the core of why Dems refuse to negotiate on border wall with Trump — bingo! https://t.co/3fl9nXTHsg
— SFWhite✝?? (@Pax1sw) January 21, 2019
“So if you want to know why this issues exists, you need to look in the mirror. You have failed the American people by not securing the border and closing loopholes,” he said, trying to continue, only to be cut off by Jayapal and her gavel yet again.
“Mr. Homan, please respect the chair and the authority of the chair,” the disrespectful Democrat lawmaker barked. “The time of the gentleman has expired.”
“I’ve asked you politely to let me go beyond my time,” an undeterred Homan replied. “You let other people go beyond their time, but not Thomas Homan.”
“We have approved an agreement between the Republicans and Democrats,” Jayapal replied. “With the ranking member, we increased the time of one member of Congress who was interrupted by a protest. That is done with the approval of the ranking member. Please respect the chair’s authority.”
“I respect the chair’s authority, but …,” Homan tried to explain before Jayapal lost her mind and began yelling.
“Mr. Homan, excuse me!” she shrieked as she banged her gavel with fury.
“You work for me!” the incensed former ICE director fired back. “I’m a taxpayer. I’m a taxpayer, you work for me.”
Fact-check: TRUE.
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V. Saxena is a staff writer for BizPac Review with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University.
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