Tom Homan’s policies killed six children in eight months.

“Bottom line is you can't fix problems if you don't have discussions. I didn't come to Minnesota for photo ops or headlines. You haven't seen me. I came here to seek solutions, and that's we're going to do.” - Tom Homan, Border Czar.

Tom Homan knows how to bullshit. Groomed in the deeply racist and robust rape culture that is the US Border Patrol, he has never seen an agent he cared to hold accountable. Certainly not himself for allegedly taking bribes to steer government contracts. It’s probably just a coincidence that several of his former clients have received in multi-million dollar contracts under the second Trump administration. 

It was Homan who first suggested to the Obama Administration that feds should take the children of asylum seeking parents who crossed the border illegally in order to deter other parents from illegally crossing. This criminalized what has always been a misdemeanor civil immigration offense equivalent to jaywalking. Homan’s stated reason for coming up such a cruel policy was that he once was forced to witness a five-year-old child’s lifeless body confined in a hot truck trailer. He insisted that taking the children would prevent the families from crossing and seeking safety.

The Obama Administration rightfully refused to implement this barbaric policy of Homan’s while at the same time awarding him a medal. Homan was forced to wait until the first Trump Administration and zero tolerance to steal migrant children. Now in Trump’s second presidency the media wants us to believe that he will bring law and order to the lawlessness and chaos that is the immigration enforcement agencies while refusing to remind you all of his most recent past. A past that includes the needless deaths of at least six children in the custody of those agencies that he continues to claim are honorable.

Seven year old Jakelin Caal Maquin was held for two days in Border Patrol custody before agents finally sent her to the hospital after continued complaints concerning an infection. By then, it was too late. In the ninety minute car ride to the hospital, she began vomiting and having seizures. DHS, investigating itself, cleared the agency of any wrongdoing.

Felipe Gomez Alonzo was only eight years old when he died after being held in Border Patrol and ICE custody for seven days. Felipe reportedly died from the flu. DHS and CBP cleared themselves of any wrongdoing.

Juan de Leon Gutierrez was sixteen when he died in US Border Patrol custody. He had been taken to the hospital, released back into custody and then returned to the hospital once again before passing. The medical examiner explained he had condition known as Pott’s puffy tumor. The tumor was likely caused by an infection and was not treated correctly with antibiotics. It appears no investigation other than the medical examiner was done by DHS or CBP.

Wilmer Josue Ramirez Vasquez was only two when he died after three days in Border Patrol custody. The medical examiner said the child died a painful death from a variety of ailments likely contracted while in custody: flu and e-coli along with other pathogens known to cause severe vomiting and diarrhea. Wilmer and his mother were forced to sleep outdoors in cold temperatures while in Border Patrol custody. Doctors stated his ailments were easily treatable had they been treated in time. Wilmer was held in the infamous Clint, Texas Border Patrol station where children were left to tend to babies themselves. “I have never seen such appalling, degrading, inhumane circumstances in my 12 years representing children and families in immigration detention,” Elora Mukherjee, the director of the Immigrants' Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School. Border Patrol officials said they were not responsible because their facilities were not meant to hold children for long term.

Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez was sixteen when he was discovered dead lying on the floor of a Border Patrol holding cell. Carlos was held in custody for several days before coming down with the flu. Medical staff told agents to recheck him in a few hours and if he had not improved, to send him to the hospital. Border Patrol ignored those orders and ignored the policy of hourly checks on those in custody while falsifying records to state that they had checked on him. Carlos was ignored during the entire evening. DHS found that the child would have died whether Border Patrol agents had performed their jobs or not and cleared agents of any wrongdoing.

Ten-year-old Darlyn Cristobel Cordova Valle complained of chest pain while in Border Patrol custody. She was transferred to Health and Human Services where she was hospitalized for seven months before passing from complications of surgery for a congenital heart defect. CBP and Border Patrol did not offer a name or cause of the death for eight months.

The deaths of these children occurred in eight short months from December 2018 to July 2019. While Homan had left government work by December 2018 to begin his Border 911 group in order to help Trump win reelection by spreading racist lies about immigrants and fake stories about an invasion, it is his policies that led to the abuse and negligence of these agencies that resulted in these deaths. Responsibility lies squarely on the shoulders of those officials who designed and implemented the child separation and zero tolerance policies of the first Trump Administration. 

Tom Homan has the blood of innocent children on his hands. He should not be entrusted with any power, certainly not to lead ICE, CBP and Border Patrol in Minneapolis or anywhere else. He will not bring justice or law but more violence and death while continuing to skirt accountability.

Where Tom Homan goes, death follows, and no one is ever held accountable. This is because Homan was never really upset about the five year old’s death he witnessed. He was simply upset he had to see it. 

Lock up your kids Minneapolis.