A RINO Congresswoman recorded a campaign ad last month telling Trump his deportations had gone too far.
CBS took that ad straight into a Tom Homan interview this week.
Homan had one question for the journalist, and the interview was never the same after he asked it.
What CBS Refuses to Say About ICE and Illegal Immigrants
The CBS journalist had her setup ready.
Florida Republican Representative Maria Salazar had handed the media exactly what they needed – a Republican willing to go on camera and call Trump's ICE crackdown excessive.
Salazar's September ad warned Trump that Hispanic voters who helped him win "feel betrayed" and said the administration's immigration enforcement tactics had "gone too far."
It was designed to make one point: Trump's border czar was rounding up innocent people.
Homan didn't take the bait.
"Give me an example of where we went too far," he said on CBS. "That's a pretty bold statement to make."
The journalist had none.
What Salazar and every CBS anchor refuses to say: illegal presence in the United States has been a federal violation since 1924.
Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, any alien whose presence violates federal law is subject to removal – regardless of criminal history.
Congress wrote that standard. Homan is enforcing it.
"If you're in the country illegally, you got a problem," Homan said. "You shouldn't be here."
He added that "everybody we arrest has an opportunity to see a judge and plead their case."
The due process Salazar was implying doesn't exist – it exists. Her ad just forgot to mention that part.
https://twitter.com/Geiger_Capital/status/2106103154333073574
Why the No Criminal Record Argument Against ICE Deportations Is a Trap
The "no criminal record" framing is the Left's preferred way to halt enforcement without ever admitting they want open borders.
None of the 9/11 hijackers who overstayed their visas had criminal records.
West Virginia Senator Jim Justice raised similar concerns, giving CBS the bipartisan Republican cover they needed to make the segment land.
Salazar is staring down a reelection race in a district where Trump's immigration push plays differently – the ad wasn't about principle, it was a calculation, and CBS was happy to hand her a megaphone.
Find one or two Republicans willing to speak like a Democrat, put them on camera, and suddenly the most historic deportation operation in American history looks like it needs to stop.
The administration is still prioritizing public safety threats first, Homan told CBS – but everyone in the country illegally is "deportable by federal law."
Trump posted a string of Truth Social attacks on Salazar and said she "got a little bit soft on the border."
ICE has removed more than 350,000 people in fiscal year 2026 – every one of whom had already broken federal law the moment they entered this country illegally.
Obama Gave Tom Homan an Award for the Same ICE Deportations Democrats Now Call Extreme
Barack Obama's administration hired Homan to run ICE's deportation operations in 2013 and then gave him the Presidential Rank Award – the highest civil service recognition in the federal government.
Homan ran record deportation numbers under Obama – arrests climbed 40% – and the same media calling him extreme today said nothing.
The standard being applied to Homan now has nothing to do with law – it's about whether Democrats, and apparently some Republicans, want illegal aliens deported at all.
Salazar is working from the same script Democrats have handed to friendly Republicans for years. The language is different – "Hispanic voters feel betrayed" instead of "immigrant rights" – but the goal is identical: freeze ICE in place.
Create enough sympathy for "non-criminal" deportees and you effectively kill enforcement forever.
If ICE can only touch people with criminal records, the border becomes a technicality – every illegal alien just waits out the clock.
"Talk to ICE," Homan told CBS about anyone pushing back on the crackdown. "Educate themselves."
The law hasn't changed since 1924. What has changed is that Democrats stopped pretending they want it enforced – and now they're recruiting Republicans to help them finish the job.
Sources:
- Mike LaChance, "Tom Homan Calmly Schools Journalist Pushing Liberal Talking Points on Deportation," The Gateway Pundit, October 3, 2026.
- "House GOP Lawmaker Under Fire from Fellow Republicans After Ad Bashing Trump Immigration," Fox News, September 2026.
- "Trump posts series of attacks on GOP congresswoman who criticized him on immigration," CP24, September 28, 2026.
- "Miami's Salazar Breaks With Trump on ICE Raids in New Campaign Ad," Hoodline, September 17, 2026.
- "What to know about Tom Homan, Trump's new 'border czar,'" CBS News, 2025.
- "Legalization Framework Under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA)," Congressional Research Service, 2019.