White House Border Czar Tom Homan speaks to members of the media in front of the White House on June 9, 2026 in Washington.
Daniel Heuer | Bloomberg | Getty Images
White House Border Patrol official Tom Homan on Tuesday criticized New York Gov. Kathy Hochul for promising a massive increase in Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to New York City.
But Homan declined to say when asked by reporters at the White House when he expected the surge of ICE agents to occur.
He said, “We can expect more ICE agents to go to New York now that Gov. (Kathy) Hochul has signed a bill ending the…agreement that allows state and local law enforcement officers to delegate immigration operations under ICE supervision.”
Agreements under ICE’s 287(g) program were used to identify and process deportable immigrants who were arrested and jailed by local authorities on unrelated charges.
“We’re going to ramp up New York’s resources,” he said. “We have to.”
But Homan separately said on Chris Cuomo’s “Sirius In Minnesota, two Americans were killed by federal agents in separate incidents in January, amid weeks of tense confrontations between residents and federal agents.
“I can’t see Minnesota. I’m not going to let Minnesota do that,” Homan said on the show Tuesday.
In late May, Gov. Hochul signed legislation that prohibits local governments, state and local police departments, and state and local correctional facilities from entering into “287(g) agreements or similar agreements with the federal government that permit state and local law enforcement personnel and facilities to be used for civilian immigration enforcement purposes,” the governor’s office said in a press release.
Homan said Tuesday at the White House that more ICE officers are needed in New York because “she took away the efficiency of the prison with the 287(g) agreement, so it’s just a calculation.”
“In the secure environment of a prison, one agent can arrest one bad guy. It’s safe for the foreign national, it’s safe for the agent, it’s safe for the community,” Homan said.
“But (Mr. Hochul) has decided to eliminate them all, so now we need to send more agents to do the job,” he said.
“I can tell you that Governor Hochul supports removing criminal aliens and wants to work with ICE on criminal aliens,” Hochul said.
“But she kept us out of jail. She cut off the 287(g) grant. You can’t square that,” he said. “It’s ridiculous. She’s lying to the people of New York State.”
Hochul hit back at Homan in a post about X, but the governor’s office told CNBC when asked for comment on the Border Emperor’s remarks.
“As I said to the President and Tom Homan, New York will never be a sanctuary for dangerous criminals,” Hochul tweeted.
The governor said he will “continue to work with federal authorities to target violent criminals.”
“But we cannot remain silent when ICE floods our communities with agents, separates families, and turns our neighborhoods into theaters for a campaign of terror,” Hochul said.
Homan told Cuomo on Tuesday that if there is a surge of ICE officers in New York, “it’s going to be a controlled operation… It’s going to be a targeted enforcement operation.”
“We leave the office every day, and because we are conducting targeted operations, we know exactly who we are looking for and where they will most likely be found.”
“You’re not going to drive around looking for people who have no idea who they’re looking for,” Homan told Cuomo, apparently referring to tactics seen in Minnesota under other Trump administration officials. “It will be a well-planned and targeted operation.”
The Trump administration has drawn harsh criticism for its aggressive immigration crackdown in Minnesota, sparking demonstrations and confrontations like the one that ended in the deaths of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Preti in Minneapolis.
President Donald Trump sent Homan to Minnesota in late January in what appeared to be an effort to de-escalate tensions in the state, but as White House press secretary Caroline Levitt said, Trump “doesn’t want Americans to die on America’s streets.”
