ICE under scrutiny over fatal agent shootings since Trump returned
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said at a US event on September 20 that he wants to bring Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s top immigration enforcement adviser, to the United Kingdom to help secure British borders. Speaking at the gathering where Homan was also a guest, Farage said: “I’ve got terrible news for you. We’re hijacking Tom Homan and taking him back with us to secure our borders.”
Homan serves as the president’s key adviser on US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which has faced scrutiny over fatal shootings by its agents. In July, ICE agents fatally shot two people identified as Salgado Araujo and Durán Guerrero, the 29th and 30th people that immigration officers have opened fire on since Trump took office last year, according to The Trace, an outlet that tracks shootings through its gun violence data hub.
Homan has taken a hands-on approach to immigration policy since Trump brought him in to “de-escalate” tensions in Minneapolis following an immigration enforcement operation there in January. In Trump’s first term, Homan helped design some of the administration’s most stringent measures, most notably family separation — a strategy reportedly deemed too severe by officials in the Obama White House that later became central to Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy.
Reform UK has committed to a more hardline immigration policy than other mainstream UK parties. The party has promised mass deportations of people who have entered the country illegally and deployment of the Royal Navy to intercept small boats in the Channel. The party did not respond to a request for comment on whether it would seek to emulate Trump’s style of immigration enforcement under ICE, which has been criticized for its brutality.
Farage interviewed Homan for his GB News show last year, describing him as uncompromising and saying he had achieved remarkable results on deportations while acknowledging there had been “some backlash.”
On the Trump administration more broadly, Farage said at the US event that it was “important that our country, and Europe too, get a better, more sensible view of America than it gets of the Trump administration through traditional mainstream media who frankly paint the whole project out to be villainous.”
Farage’s positive remarks towards Trump and his administration follow a period in which the Reform UK leader appeared to distance himself from the president. In April, Farage said he and Trump had not spoken for many months and questioned Trump’s judgment on the Iran war.
Farage’s latest US trip comes as relations between the White House and Downing Street face strain over Iran and policy toward Israel since Andy Burnham replaced Keir Starmer as UK prime minister. Burnham is scheduled to meet Trump in New York next week. Trump has previously described Burnham as “extremely liberal” while also praising him for potentially opening up the North Sea to further drilling.
Earlier this week, Farage departed from Trump’s views after the US president said he would love to see a united Ireland. “Northern Ireland is a proud and integral part of the United Kingdom,” Farage said. “The people of Northern Ireland neither want a referendum nor unification.”