Former ICE Director Tom Homan clashed with Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), who was chairing a committee on Thursday pertaining to border detention practices.
Jayapal, the vice chairwoman of the House Judiciary Immigration and Citizenship Subcommittee, repeatedly cut off Homan for exceeding his allowed time to speak.
A shouting match occurred when Tom Homan responded to a previous statement Rep. Jayapal made about the Trump administration’s use of funding for additional detention beds and he set the record straight while defending defend his former agency.
“I’d like to remind you, under the Obama administration we did that most of the years he was president. We moved money around DHS; it’s called reprogramming. We did that under the Obama administration. And I don’t remember any hearings on that. And also, I’d like to remind you, that under the Obama administration… I mean, you’re quick to point out the cages– were built under the Obama administration. I was there, family detention. We had 100 families beds built under the Obama administration. We built 3,000 more,” Homan explained.
He also pointed out that under Obama, when there had been a surge at the border, “Congress was quick to give us all the money we needed to built the tent facilities, transportation contracts. We reprogrammed money… that was fine. Under the Obama administration, FY-12, we removed 409K people, half of what was removed last year. There’s no hearings on that. So, if this is about transparency, let’s be factual about it,” he continued.
Jayapal responded, saying, “I didn’t like it under the Obama administration either.” (Continued Below)
Homan interjected, stating that Congress should be more transparent and should not criticize the Trump administration while giving a pass to Obama for similar practices. “You can’t point out faults in the Trump administration when it happened under the Obama administration!” Homan declared.
However, Jayapal grew frustrated and slammed down her gavel, but Homan shot back, “That’s dishonesty. It’s pathetic and it’s sad.”
Jayapal reminded Homan that in the past, he testified in support of Obama administration policies that were different from current policies, but when Homan asked if he could respond, Jayapal said no, as his time was up, to which Homan fired back, “Of course not.” (Continued Below)
Later in the hearing, Homan got another chance to speak and he used his time to blast Congress for problems at the border.
Look, you want to know why there’s 50,000 people in detention? 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,” Homan stated. “You guys failed to work with this president to close the three loopholes we’ve asked for two years to close. So if you want to know why this issue exists, you need to look in the mirror. You have failed the American people for not securing the border and closing loopholes.”
Jayapal interrupted Homan once again, telling him that his time was up, but he continued speaking over her. “The time of the gentleman has expired,” she said.
“I’ve asked you politely to let me go beyond my time, and you let other people go beyond their time, but not to Tom Homan!” the former ICE Director announced.
Jayapal slammed the gavel once again growing frustrated, but Homan declared, “This is a circus!” (Video Below)
“Please respect the chair’s authority,” Jayapal said. As Homan began to respond, she slammed the gavel again and yelled, “Mr. Homan!”
“You work for me!” Homan fired back, putting Jayapal in her place. “I’m a taxpayer. I’m a taxpayer, you work for me!” [Emphasized].
