During a recent panel discussion hosted at New College of Florida, former ICE Director Tom Homan delivered a striking assessment of the current state of the U.S. southern border. Joined by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf, Homan highlighted what he called a “historic” turnaround in illegal immigration under President Trump’s current leadership — but stressed that the work is far from complete.
“In four weeks, we have arrested more criminal aliens in the interior United States than Joe Biden did in a year,” Homan said. “Border numbers right now are down 96% — a 96% decline in six weeks. We did in six weeks what Joe Biden refused to do in four years.” His remarks underscore the dramatic shift in policy enforcement and prioritization between the current and previous administrations.
.@RealTomHoman: "In four weeks, we arrested more criminal aliens in the interior of the United States than Joe Biden did in a year… Border numbers right now are down 96%… We did in six weeks what Joe Biden refused to do in four years." pic.twitter.com/rV7TlcnJWm
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 20, 2025
Homan credited the reversal to a change in political leadership. “All we needed was a new president who took border security seriously, and that’s what we have in President Trump,” he stated. However, Homan emphasized that the most pressing issue isn’t just the drop in total crossings, but the threat posed by the massive number of so-called “gotaways” — illegal aliens who enter the country undetected and unvetted.
“2.2 million people came into this country and we got them on video, drone traffic, sensor traffic — they weren’t apprehended,” Homan said, citing how overwhelmed Border Patrol agents were diverted to humanitarian care duties. “We don’t know who they are, where they came from, or why they’re here.” The inability to process or even identify these individuals, he warned, presents serious national security concerns.
The former ICE chief pointed to recent data under President Trump showing that gotaways have fallen dramatically — from an average of 1,800 per day under Biden to just 41 per day. Homan tied the drop directly to improved enforcement and a more focused strategy at the border.
He also challenged critics on the left who push back on strict border enforcement by pointing to the real-world human costs of open borders. “When you have a 96% decline in illegal border crossing,” he asked, “how many women and children aren’t being sexually assaulted by the cartels? How many children aren’t dying crossing that border? How many pounds of fentanyl is not getting into this country to kill Americans?”
For Homan, the issue is not only about national sovereignty but about saving lives. “A secure border saves lives, and that’s what President Trump has done,” he said. “We were saving lives by the thousands simply by having a secure border.”
Despite the progress he outlined, Homan warned against complacency. “We need to do 10 times more,” he said. “I’m not satisfied. We’re not going to rest. I’m not going to sleep well at night, until every public safety threat [and all] illegal aliens are eradicated from this country.”
The stakes, as outlined by Homan, are not abstract. When millions of individuals cross into the country without proper vetting — amid a rise in fentanyl deaths, human trafficking, and cartel influence — it poses a direct and immediate danger to the American people.
