The crisis afflicting America's southern border continues with a surge of unaccompanied children in U.S. custody, fentanyl deaths and a resurgence of cartel violence, and former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director Tom Homan believes President Joe Biden is to blame.
On "Fox & Friends" Thursday, Homan discussed a federal court's decision to block some of the Biden administration's policies prohibiting ICE from removing undocumented immigrants not labeled as "top priority threats."
"[Biden's] policies are abolishing the ICE mission, and that's what the judge said. The judge said that Secretary Mayorkas, in his memorandum – the small portion of the alien population he prioritized – is forcing ICE agents to violate the law," Homan told Steve Doocy.
Homan said the law "clearly says … you must detain those convicted of certain drug offenses, those convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude" and those with final deportation orders.
"But Secretary Mayorkas' memo says ‘you’re not going to do that,'" Homan explained, adding the policies have led to a "historic low" in deportations since Biden took office.
"I've written more affidavits suing this president in Texas, Arizona, Florida than I did my entire career. I hate to say that, but that's what we have to do," said Homan.
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The policy, made permanent last fall, narrowed ICE's scope of migrant seizures, allowing border agents to "focus limited resources on top priority threats," Fox News reported.
"For the first time ever, our policy explicitly states that a non-citizen's unlawful presence in the United States will not, by itself, be a basis for the initiation of an enforcement action," Sec. Mayorkas told CBS News earlier this year, the report stated.
"Fox & Friends" reached out to DHS for comment on the matter, but did not receive a response.
Homan also slammed the Biden administration's immigration policies by blaming the president for issues such as drug cartels and dead migrants, among others.
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"The cartels are back in business under the Biden administration because he opened the border," he said. "Border Patrol saved over 9,500 people last year, 9,500 saves. And the number of dead migrants that are found in the United States is at an all-time high," he said.