By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-03-17 23:16:53 | Updated at 2025-03-18 06:01:28
6 hours ago
Donald Trump's border czar Tom Homan savagely shot down a reporter who was trying to interrogate him about a decision to send illegal immigrants to El Salvador.
Homan was speaking with reporters on Monday when he was asked what he would 'say to those who say you're using a 200 year old law to circumvent due process.'
Without missing a beat, Homan answered: 'An old law?
'It's not as old as the constitution and we still pay attention to that, don't we?' He then instantly turned and walked away from the crowd, without another word.
The question was referring to Trump's decision to invoke the Aliens Enemies Act on Saturday to purge the United States of hundreds of Tren de Aragua gangsters who had arrived illegally.
Trump designated TdA as a terrorist organization when he took office in January.
The wartime Aliens Enemies Act gives the Trump administration power to deport any Venezuelan in the US over the age of 14 who is suspected of being a Tren de Aragua gangster without seeing a judge or following standard due process.
Even though a US judge issued an order verbally demanding airplanes carrying TdA members bound for El Salvador must turn back, authorities complied with a written ruling on Saturday which omitted specifics about planes which had already taken off.
Homan was speaking with reporters on Monday when he was asked what he would 'say to those who say you're using a 200 year old law to circumvent due process'
The question was referring to Trump's decision to invoke the Aliens Enemies Act on Saturday to purge the United States of hundreds of Tren de Aragua gangsters who had arrived illegally
They said that the jets were over international waters by the time the ruling came through, meaning the judge no longer had jurisdiction.
Homan's no-nonsense response to the question has been widely praised within MAGA circles, with some urging him to 'hold clinics' to educate others on how to shut down questions.
'Got to love our head of border security,' one supporter said on X.
'Somebody call the coroner,' another joked.
Homan has developed a reputation for his no-nonsense approach to tense situations. Just last week he munched on an apple as he smiled down screaming protesters, and issued a warning to green card holders that they're not exempt from deportation measures.
The gang has been linked to kidnapping, extortion, organised crime and contract killings.
El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele revealed 'the first 238 members of the Venezuelan criminal organisation, Tren de Aragua, arrived in our country' last weekend.
He shared a video of several men in handcuffs and shackles being transferred from a plane to a heavily guarded convoy, revealing they'd been sent to the country's maximum security Terrorism Confinement Centre (CECOT).
El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele revealed 'the first 238 members of the Venezuelan criminal organisation, Tren de Aragua, arrived in our country' on Sunday
El Salvador's leader, in a meeting last month with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, offered to house prisoners from the United States in his country
But Trump's decision to invoke a wartime authority to expel migrants raised concerns from critics and human rights groups.
It had been invoked only three times before during major international conflicts.
Its most recent application was during World War II, when it was used to incarcerate Germans and Italians as well as for the mass internment of around 120,000 Japanese and Japanese-American civilians.
The act was also used during World War I and the War of 1812.
While civil rights groups sued to block the order, Trump said Tren de Aragua is 'conducting irregular warfare against the territory of the United States both directly and at the direction, clandestine or otherwise, of the Maduro regime.'
Trump had pledged to use the Alien Enemies Act during his presidential campaign, and immigration groups were braced for it.
The Terrorism Confinement Centre is located on 410 acres of land, including 57 that were set aside to build eight pavilions surrounded by a 36-foot-tall and 1.3-mile-long wall.
It houses at least 13,000 inmates, with a capacity for 40,000, eclipsing the Marmara Penitentiaries Campus in Istanbul, Turkey.
The mega-prison is equipped with a system that blocks inmates from contacting the outside world with cellphones.
Each cell comes equipped with 80 bare iron bunks - mattresses are not included - along with two toilets and two sinks.
Dubbed a 'black hole of human rights' by critics, the facility has drawn widespread condemnation for allegedly ignoring international prisoner rights.
