Homan: You Better Believe We’ll ‘Flood the Zone’ in ‘Sanctuaries’ Again (Updated)

Interestingly, CBS didn’t choose to highlight this portion of the Face the Nation interview with Tom Homan in their news summary. It seems like a buried lede to me.

Last week, Homan announced the end of Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis/St. Paul after arresting 4,000 criminal illegal aliens and locating more than three thousand children lost during the Biden Regency. At the time, news agencies covered it as a retreat by the Trump administration. Homan emphasized that the Department of Homeland Security achieved its objectives, not just in arrests but in forcing the “sanctuary” jurisdictions to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. And Homan promised to launch more operations in other “sanctuary” jurisdictions, if necessary to achieve full cooperation as well:

Homan: I’m hoping other sanctuary cities look at what happened in Minnesota, and how we got to the place we’re at, which I think is a good place. I hope more people pay attention to that, and we work with these states to let our officers in the jails.

pic.twitter.com/GzSoLcI0GA

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) February 15, 2026

CBS News focused its report on Homan’s remarks about face masks and judicial warrants. The masks are unfortunate but necessary, Homan said, in areas where radical activists resort to violence to obstruct ICE operations:

“I don’t like the masks either,” Homan said in an interview with Ed O’Keefe on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sunday. 

Homan said assaults against Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have increased by 1,500% while threats against them have increased by 8,000%. The Department of Homeland Security said in a Jan. 26 news release that assaults against ICE officers had increased by more than 1,300%. Neither Homan nor the release gave a timeframe for that surge, nor did they give a source for the assault and threat claims. 

“These men and women have to protect themselves,” he said. 

Homan left the warrant issue up to Congress, but pointed out that ICE is enforcing the current law as written:

On obtaining judicial warrants, Homan said, “that’s not what the federal law requires.” 

“If Congress wants that change, then Congress can legislate. But right now, ICE is acting within the framework of federal statutes enacted by Congress and signed by a president,” he said. 

CBS did not make a single mention of Homan’s remarks on “sanctuary” jurisdictions, even though that is clearly the biggest issue raised in the interview. The report has a link to the Free Press’ article from a month ago about Trump declaring a “legal war on sanctuary cities,” but doesn’t spare a syllable to Homan’s claim to have won that battle in Minnesota. One has to wonder why, especially since Homan declared that he had left a security force in the state to enforce the agreements that led to the end of Operation Metro Surge (via Townhall):

🚨 JUST IN: Tom Homan announces he’s staging a SECURITY FORCE in Minnesota to protect ICE and Border agents when targeted by the left

“The force will remain to make sure local police coordination stays in place.”

Deportations continue in Minnesota 🔥pic.twitter.com/xReDElgujA

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) February 15, 2026

Isn’t that a little more significant than face masks and judicial warrants? It certainly looks more like news, especially with the rest of the media attempting to push the narrative that Trump retreated.

Update: Townhall also has this clip from Homan’s appearance on CNN yesterday. Homan confirms that the shutdown of DHS has not impacted immigration enforcement, which is “already funded”:

Border Czar Tom Homan confirms to Jake Tapper that the Democrats’ latest shutdown push will not hinder ICE or immigration enforcement operations.

Not one bit.

TAPPER: “Does this funding freeze in any way impact or limit your ability to carry out immigration operations across… pic.twitter.com/AmPPIZfxDR

— Overton (@overton_news) February 15, 2026

TAPPER: So, Democrats say that this shutdown with Department of Homeland Security funds is because they need to rein in ICE and CBP. Both of these agencies were fully funded in last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, we should note. So I guess the first question I have is, does this funding freeze in any way, impact or limit your ability to carry out immigration operations across the country?

HOMAN: No, it doesn’t. And ICE has continued to enforce the law across the country. They’re already funded. Now, the ICE officers won’t be getting paid, but they’re getting used to that, it seems like. So, no, the immigration mission, the reason why President Trump was elected to be president continues. We have the most secure border in the history of the nation. We got record numbers of arrest and deportations. That will continue.

The rest of this segment didn’t produce much of anything interesting. Tapper did try to get Homan to discuss what he could live with in the demands made by Senate Democrats, but rather than get specific, he spent most of the rest of the segment attempting to get Homan to criticize Kristi Noem and Gregory Bovino. Tapper called Homan an “adult” in a rather transparent attempt to flatter Homan into that criticism, but Homan didn’t bite. It’s too bad Tapper didn’t put more effort into discussing the Democrat demands, but in fairness, I doubt Homan would have allowed himself to get drawn into that discussion either. And that is because Homan is the adult in the figurative room. 

Editor’s Note: Democrat politicians and their radical supporters will do everything they can to interfere with and threaten ICE agents enforcing our immigration laws.

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