Donald Trump's hand-picked border czar Tom Homan said that a crackdown at the border could have stopped a pair of New Year's Day attacks that appeared to be carried out by U.S. citizens.
“This country’s in grave danger. We need to secure that border,” Homan told Fox News host Sandra Smith on Thursday afternoon. “Border patrol continues to release people into this country without proper vetting.”
"We need to secure that border" -- incoming Trump border czar Tom Homan on a terrorist attack that had nothing to do with the border pic.twitter.com/SBoUfSuvaM
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 2, 2025
Homan was discussing a vehicular attack on New Orleans' famed Bourbon Street that killed 15 people and an explosion that rocked a hotel in Las Vegas. Both the man behind the wheel of a Cybertruck that exploded in Las Vegas outside of Trump Tower, identified as Matthew Livelsberger, and New Orleans attacker Shamsud-Din Jabbar were American-born military veterans.
Homan went on to accuse the administration of outgoing President Joe Biden of “releasing thousands” of immigrants each week “despite what’s happened in the last two days in Las Vegas, New Orleans.”
Homan’s future boss also blamed a supposed laxity at the border for the attack in a post to Truth Social on Wednesday.
"When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true," Trump wrote. “The crime rate in our country is at a level that nobody has ever seen before. Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department.”
Jabbar was reportedly inspired by the Islamic State group, with officials telling CNN that he shared videos to that effect. Homan added that he expects law enforcement to find a “connection between the two incidents.”
Asked why he believed the incidents were related, Homan cited a “gut feeling.”
A day earlier, Homan told Fox News the two men were “emboldened” by the Biden administration’s “weak stance” on border security.
“You can’t have national security if you don’t have border security,” he said in a Wednesday appearance on “Hannity.” “I don’t understand why they don’t get that.”
