Former Housing Secretary Julián Castro accused Tom Homan, President-elect Trump’s incoming border enforcement chief, of embodying the “dark heart” of the administration and ushering in “cruelty part two” towards migrants. Speaking on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Castro sharply criticized Homan’s comments regarding family detention centers and the separation of migrant families. He stated that Homan’s approach reveals a deep-seated cruelty and dehumanization of migrants.
Homan, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has outlined plans to reinstate family detention centers, a practice ended under the Biden administration. He suggested that undocumented parents of U.S.-born children would be responsible for deciding whether to keep their families together. Castro countered this by emphasizing the desperate circumstances—violence and hunger—that often force migrants to flee their homes. He argued that their migration is not a whimsical decision, but a desperate act of survival.
Castro further criticized Homan’s “clinical and bureaucratic” approach to immigration enforcement, deeming it disconnected from the realities faced by migrants. While Homan has suggested that any new detention facilities would include childcare and education provisions, he has also reiterated the administration’s commitment to ending “catch-and-release” policies for all migrants, including families.