Tom Homan, Donald Trump’s “border czar,” said Thursday that he is pushing to create a database that would publicly name and shame people protesting the administration’s anti-immigration enforcement push.
Speaking to Laura Ingraham on Fox News, Homan acknowledged that they “have that right.” But he then warned that all bets would be off “when you cross a line, and we’ve proven it.”
Homan said, “If you interfere or impede or assault an ICE officer, you will be prosecuted and one thing I’m pushing for now, Laura, we’re going to create a database.”
He continued, “Those people that are arrested for interference or impeding, assault, we’re going to make them famous. We’re going to put their face on TV. We’re going to let their employers and their neighborhoods and their schools know who these people are.”
Watch from the 3:30 point here:
Homan went on to speculate — without offering evidence — that many protesters were lying to their employers.
“A lot of these people, they say they’re taking time off work to protest. I bet you a lot of them are calling in sick. I bet you a lot of their employers don’t know what they are doing,” he claimed.
“But we’re going to make sure everybody knows who they are,” Homan added. “We’re going to broadcast every one of these people we arrest.”
Critics on social media blasted the proposal as authoritarian, warning it would undermine due process (because Homan twice said they would be shamed following their arrest, not conviction) and chill free speech.
Others argued that if protesters are publicly identified and punished, then ICE agents should be subject to the same scrutiny, predicting the plan would ultimately backfire.
