Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – host Michael Patrick Leahy was joined on the line by author and former Acting Director of ICE, Tom Homan.
During the third hour, Homan explained that he was inspired to write his new book because of immigration cases he worked on and the false narrative being pushed out by the ACLU and people like AOC, Pelosi, and Schumer. He predicted that as the COVID-19 pandemic starts to decline in the United States that we will see an increase of cases in Mexico prompting illegal immigrants to flood our border for medical care.
Leahy: We are talking with Tom Homan now. Former Acting Director of ICE that deals with immigration control. Tom is a good friend of this program. Like me, he’s from upstate New York. Born in Watertown, New York. I know where Watertown, New York is Tom!
Homan: You should. It’s God’s country.
Leahy: It is God’s country.
Homan: Everybody should know where Watertown, New York is.
Leahy: Not too far from the Thousand Islands on St. Lawrence river up there.
Homan: It’s 20 minutes off the Canadian border.
Leahy: You’ve got a new book called Defend the Border and Save Lives: Solving our Most Important Humanitarian and Security Crisis. Just published. Tell us about the book. How did this come about and what’s your message there Tom?
Homan: Well, to be honest with you I’m a cop for 34 years. I never thought I’d write a book. I wrote the book out of frustration to tell you the truth. I’m tired of the false narrative being pushed by the left. The ACLU and people like AOC and Pelosi and Schumer and the rest of the bunch up there. People know I do a lot of Fox shows. I’m a Fox contributor.
But you can’t tell the story or explain to the American people what’s going on five to six minutes. You can’t do it on a 10-minute radio show. Everybody knows I testify a lot since I’ve retired and that turns into a shouting match because they don’t want you to talk and they don’t want you to hear the truth. So I said, OK, I’m going to write a book. I’m trying to educate the American people on what’s going on and how bad illegal immigration is. It’s not a victimless crime.
It’s a lot of work but I wanted to educate the American people. Even the people that don’t like me, but if they read the book they’re going to say at least we understand him. We know why he’s emotional about this. We know why he gets angry. Because in the book I talk about the tragedies I was involved with. I talk about the investigations I conducted that would turn your stomach. Illegal immigration is not a victimless crime.
People are getting raped. People get tortured. Cartels are making millions of dollars and there is a way to fix this. The President has already taken this a long way by a 75% decline in the border because he’s following the advice of the experts.
The book is really about explaining to the American people so when they hear news reports or immigration reports or ICE they can say, that’s not right. I know what border patrol does and I know what they don’t do. I know what ICE does and I know why they do it. The book is to help push back the false narrative from the left.
Leahy: They seem to have gotten off this topic for a minute and they are all doing sort of ‘bad man orange’ coronavirus and its’ all Donald Trump’s fault. This will change of course I think once the coronavirus subsides which it’s likely to do.
Homan: It needs to change before the coronavirus is done. Let me tell you what’s going to happen based on my experience. (Inaudible talk) They don’t really know because most people in Mexico can’t afford to see a doctor. They don’t have healthcare insurance. And just last week I think Reuters reported a bunch of death and more just south of El Paso.
A lot of them said they had pneumonia. Well, you and I both know it’s not pneumonia. it’s going to take Mexico by storm. It’s going to be really bad because they don’t have the health system we have. So watch out on the border. Because people are going to try and come.
If you have a virus like this and you have a choice of a Mexican hospital and an American hospital, where you going to go? We have a lot of border traffic every day like in El Paso. A lot of legal residents in El Paso have their homes and live in El Paso and they go to Mexico to work because that’s where their business is.
That’s a whole new population that will get sick. Our hospitals are already inundated. And it’s going to get worse. And with remittances down, illegal aliens here are sending money back to Mexico and Central America to their families. It’s called remittances. Billions of dollars a year which is a big part of their economy and GDP that is in the toilet now because of the unemployment now in the United States. All that money is not going back south anymore.
Their economy is going to implode. And the COVID-19 is going to go rampant. And there’s going to be a demand on that border. I think we’re going to have another border issue in the very near future. And thank God we have President Trump in office who’s doing everything he can to keep it shut down. It’s going to be a problem
Leahy: So you see as the COVID-19 pandemic starts to decline in the United States it’s going to increase in Mexico and there will be an increased effort by illegal immigrants many of whom have COVID-19 to cross the border because they know they’ll get better treatment in the United States. Is that what you’re saying?
Homan: I absolutely believe that. Yes, I do.
Leahy: What kind of numbers are we seeing in illegal border crossings over the past several months. Is it up or down? I haven’t been tracking it.
Homan: It’s way down. Illegal border crossings are down 75% from the high in May. Because of President Donald Trump and the actions he’s taken. Congress hasn’t given him one option. Congress hasn’t helped him a bit by closing any of the loopholes that caused all this.
It’s this President and his deal with Mexico, making Mexico do their job and having deals with Central America. All three countries, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras. Building that wall. He’s sent unprecedented resources to the border. He’s got immigration court working faster. 75% decline since May.
No other president in my lifetime and I’ve worked for six of them, have done that and been that successful. This President is a game-changer. And if Congress would get off their butts and close the final loopholes we could control this border for the first time in my lifetime. This President has gone a long way.
Leahy: Do you see that we are in a position to limit illegal crossings let’s say over the next several weeks as COVID-19 continues to grow in Mexico?
Homan: Well right now border patrol is very vigilant. Look, they’re not dealing with thousands of family units. Rember back in May when all these families were coming across, in May and before May and for a whole year. 50%-60% border patrol agents were no longer on the line. They were at the stations changing diapers. Making formula. Making hospital runs. This family crisis caused a huge lack of border security because the border patrol agents were no longer on the line.
Leahy: Tom Homan. A good friend of our program. Former ICE Director. Defend the Border and Save Lives: Solving Our Most Important Humanitarian and Security Crisis just published as of March 31st. You can get it on Amazon.com. Tom, will you come back in the next couple of months or so and tell us how this is changing here in the United States?
Homan: I’ll come back whenever you need me. You just give me a shout. You’re an upstate New Yorker. We’ve got to stick together.
Listen to the third hour here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 am to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.Â
