U.S. border czar Tom Homan was in Sarasota on Thursday morning to discuss President Donald Trump's immigration policies at New College of Florida.
Homan appeared alongside Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf to give a speech on immigration policy.
The sit-down at the campus' Mildred Sainer Pavilion was moderated by New College president Richard Corcoran. About 200 people attended.
About 200 protesters were outside, but there were no interuptions during the event.
The talk was part of the college's Socratic Stage Dialogue Series. The series aims to advance civil discourse through events that allow open discussion and debate on public policy issues, according to the website.
You can watch the full discussion here:
The officials discussed their perspectives on border security and holding those who break laws accountable.
DeSantis and Homan about plans to continue tackling illegal immigration in the state and across the nation.
Homan pointed out that the number of people entering the country from the border is down 96% since Trump took office in January.
And as of March, more than 49,000 people are being held in detention centers, the highest number in five years. It's a number that Homan vowed to increase.
"We arrested three times more in one month than what (former President) Joe Biden did in the same months, but that’s not enough,," Homan said. "We need to do 10 times more because Biden wasn’t doing squat.
"I'm happy, but I'm not not satisfied."
Homan said a "secure border saves American lives, and saves alien lives. That’s a fact."
"And that’s what President Trump has done. We’re saving lives by the thousands simply because we have a secure border,” Homan said.
He added that they have more work to do.
“We’re not going to rest — I’m not going to sleep well at night — until every public safety threat illegal aliens eradicated from this country. That’s when we’ll relax,” Homan said.
Homan said a majority of people who come to the border do not have a valid asylum claim, and that "they may come here for a better life but they’re not here escaping persecution."
But, he added, "We need to send a message out into the world that there’s a right way and a wrong way to come into this country."
Since Trump took office, Florida has been in lockstep with the administration's hardline immigration policies.
The state tops the nation when it comes to the number of local law enforcement agencies that help federal immigration agents detain people.
DeSantis said that Congress "really needs to be way, way more aggressive than what they’ve been so far.”
“What will happen is you will absolutely see all that go up in smoke if a new president comes in in ’29 that doesn’t agree with these policies – it will happen like that," DeSantis added, snapping his fingers.
He also described capitalizing on Trump’s executive orders.
“ICE does not have enough personnel," DeSantis said. "Border patrol does not have enough personnel and resources to do what needs to be done. So if we just say it’s their responsibility, we’re just not going to get the job done. Like you have to supplement with state and local.”
DeSantis, who noted that Florida is the only state to call a special session to combat illegal immigration, spoke out against sanctuary cities.
"We have a program that deputizes. ... All jurisdictions in Florida have 287(g) agreements," DeSantis said. "These are not all Republican sheriffs, but we’ve imposed a legal duty on them.
"It’s not a policy question anymore whether or not they should be involved in it, and it will happen one way or another, and we will get that done.*
DeSantis added immigrants in the country without legal status are putting a stress on social services, saying Florida has spent around $600 million in hospital emergency rooms "for people here illegally."
Wolf said the cooperation that DeSantis mentioned is "absolutely critical."
"There’s a different mindset that you see here in Florida," Wolf said. "That’s what real cooperation looks like, when the state and federal cooperate."
On the question of whether states think the rule of law doesn't apply to them, Homan said the administration is lucky to "have (Attorney General) Pam Bondi, who will sue them."
This is a developing story. Stay with WUSF for updates.
