Earlier today, Ed wrote about the DOJ’s hardline stance on officials in Sanctuary Cities obstructing the enforcement of immigrtation laws.
The warning: get in line or get investigated.
Now this kind of obstruction, which was always illegal, will have a high cost for the officeholders in “sanctuary” cities and states.
That’s not the only change being made at the DoJ, either. https://t.co/bAVzFXYu3k
— Ed Morrissey (@EdMorrissey) January 22, 2025
President Trump’s push during his first term was aimed more at increasing security at the border, and no doubt border security remains a top priority. But this term, he will go much farther: mass deportations and severely restricting asylum claims to people who actually need asylum.
Attorney General Bondi will spearhead the first effort, but as everybody knows, Tom Homan is the point man and he isn’t playing nice. And it is driving the Pravda Media nuts because he is unafraid to answer the hard questions with even harder answers.
As the Pravda Media flails around looking for some angle to shame Homan or inflame the passions of empathetic Americans, they are being stymied. Rather than backing down or flinching at images put on the screen to emotionally manipulate people, Homan calmly explains that he intends to follow the law.
1) Tom Homan is awesome
2) any tv host who uses the term “undocumented” is an activist
pic.twitter.com/FX7TbJlsQJ— Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) January 22, 2025
Homan’s plan is simple: focus on deporting the most criminal aliens first, but enforcing the law always. He’s not conducting random raids but focusing of the worst first. But if other illegal aliens get in the way, it’s adios muchacho.
“What would a person to have to do to get a visit from ICE?”
Border Czar Tom Homan: “Be in the country illegally.”
Simple.pic.twitter.com/pV2lACba4m
— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) January 22, 2025
This is another example of how the Overton Window has radically shifted. In the first Trump term, the video of AOC crying over a parking lot was splashed everywhere and had some political effect; now, people shrug.
The strategy is working, both politically and strategically. Border encounters have collapsed in numbers, which is precisely the desired result.
“That is a gamechanger.”
JUST IN: ‘Border Czar’ Tom Homan reports there are now *ZERO* CBP-One App releases and total apprehensions at the southern border have DROPPED to 766.
This is compared to 10,000 to 12,000 per day under Biden.
What a difference a president makes. pic.twitter.com/BRSNbNDVGY
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) January 22, 2025
One strategy that I predict will be very effective is focusing a fair amount of effort on sanctuary cities, especially Chicago, where Brandon Johnson is wildly unpopular. His base of minorities has abandoned him over the illegal immigration issue. In fact, there were supposed to be raids on Tuesday, but somebody leaked the details, delaying the enforcement action.
Confrontations with unpopular mayors will be a public relations coup because a lot of sympathetic minorities will be cheering on the deportations, undercutting the “sympathetic migrant” narrative.
Focusing on cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York (where Adams will help) will help generate enthusiasm among the unusual suspects and drive attention to the victims of illegal immigrants rather than allowing the Pravda Media to focus solely on the poor abuelas they want to.
Homan is just the man to accomplish the dual tasks he has been given: make rapid progress on deporting dangerous criminal aliens AND helping win the PR war. Americans support the policy in the abstract, but the left will do its best to chip away by hyping empathetic stories for effect.
Homan’s focus on criminals, cities where illegal aliens are vastly unpopular, and picking his targets in sanctuary cities is exactly the right one.
Right now, he is kicking butt.
