White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks as White House 'border czar' Tom Homan looks on during the daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 28, 2025. (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
"Look, I started on the Border Patrol in 1984. I've been at this for over 40 years. I've worked for six presidents, starting with Ronald Reagan. Every president I've ever worked for took border security seriously because you can't have national security if you don't have strong border security. We've gotta know who's coming, what's coming, where its coming and why its coming in, right?"
Homan noted that "even President Obama and President Clinton" addressed border security to some extent. But Biden, he said, is the "first president in the history of this nation who came into office and unsecured the border on purpose."
He then went on to tout massive decreases in illegal immigration that Trump has achieved in just a few months.
"When 96% less people are coming [across the border], how many women aren't being sexually assaulted by the cartels?" Homan said. "How many children aren't dying making that journey? How many women and children aren't being sex-trafficked into this country? How many known and suspected terrorists aren't making it into this nation? How many pounds of fentanyl isn't getting into this country to kill young Americans?"
The administration's ongoing Operation Tidal Wave is the largest deportation operation in American history, the pair said. Leavitt added that it is only the beginning, however, and is a "sign of things to come."
The Trump administration said in early April that it had already deported 100,000 illegal immigrants, though officials did not offer a new total at Monday's briefing.
President Donald Trump's immigration policies remain widely popular according to polls. (Fox News / Special Report)
Monday's briefing was the first of several morning press conferences the White House has scheduled this week. Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent will join her for a similar briefing on Tuesday, Leavitt said.
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Recent high-profile deportations have seen migrants deported to an El-Salvador mega prison after the president invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 wartime immigration law, to deport Venezuelan gang members. That move has since been held up in court with the Trump administration opting to deport 17 alleged members of Tren de Aragua to El Salvador from Guantánamo Bay on Sunday night via Title 8.
Anders Hagstrom is a reporter with Fox News Digital covering national politics and major breaking news events. Send tips to Anders.Hagstrom@Fox.com, or on Twitter: @Hagstrom_Anders.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/white-house-touts-100-day-illegal-immigration-crackdown-after-biden-unsecured-border-purpose