Border czar Tom Homan is tough as nails. He doesn’t care what the critics say.
And now Trump’s border czar has called a federal judge one word that has unleashed all chaos.
Trump’s Border Czar Slams Activist Judge for Blocking Venezuelan Migrant Crackdown
Border Czar Tom Homan took aim Tuesday at a federal judge’s decision to thwart efforts to strip Temporary Protected Status (TPS) from hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants. The move, halted by Judge Edward Chen of the Northern District of California on Monday, came after a lawsuit spearheaded by New York’s Democratic Attorney General Letitia James sought to protect some 350,000 Venezuelans from losing their legal foothold in the U.S. But Homan, a seasoned veteran with nearly four decades in immigration enforcement, isn’t buying the opposition’s argument—and he’s doubling down on the Trump team’s commitment to law and order.
“It’s another activist judge making a stupid ruling that just doesn’t make sense,” Homan declared during an interview with Fox and Friends co-host Lawrence Jones. “You know, I’ve been around since 1984, Lawrence, and TPS, Temporary Protected Status, is never temporary — and President Trump is going to do his job by rule of law. The law says temporary status.” For Homan, the issue is clear-cut: TPS was designed as a short-term lifeline, not a permanent free pass.
The border czar laid out the administration’s stance with unapologetic clarity. “Once the conditions of that country they’re from … change, then people should be removed from the United States,” he explained. “It’s only a temporary status. For instance, if there’s a hurricane and it devastates a part of the country, we’ll give them TPS until that country gets back on their feet, but TPS isn’t meant to be decades-long.”
Drawing from his decades of experience, Homan argued that extending TPS indefinitely undermines its very purpose—a purpose rooted in the practical realities of immigration law as defined by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The agency grants TPS when conditions like natural disasters or civil unrest make it unsafe for migrants to return home, but the Trump administration insists that safety net has a time limit.
Homan tied the policy directly to President Trump’s ironclad promises to the American people. “So, President Trump, who’s promised the American people we’re going to enforce the laws enacted by Congress and signed by a president,” he said. “We’re going to use the laws of this country to secure the borders and enforce immigration law. It’s exactly what we’re doing.” Since taking office on January 20, Trump has wasted no time, issuing executive orders to tackle illegal immigration head-on—including designating ruthless groups like Mexican drug cartels, the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua, and the El Salvadoran MS-13 as foreign terrorist organizations. For the administration, these moves signal a no-nonsense approach to restoring control over America’s borders.
But Homan saved his sharpest critique for Judge Chen’s ruling. “TPS needs to be temporary in nature,” he insisted. “We need to follow the rule of law and not some advice from an activist judge that makes a foolish ruling not based on the law but based on opinion. If you look at that decision, it’s based on opinion, not the rule of law.” In Homan’s view, the judge’s intervention isn’t just misguided—it’s a direct attack on the legal framework Trump’s team is fighting to uphold.
The clash over TPS is the latest chapter in the administration’s aggressive push to deliver on Trump’s campaign pledges. With Homan at the helm of border security, the message is unmistakable: the days of endless extensions and judicial overreach are numbered. For supporters, it’s a refreshing return to principles that put American sovereignty first—and a sign that Trump’s team won’t back down from a fight.
Trump’s Bold Immigration Crackdown Thwarted by California Judge’s Overreach
In a move that’s got the Trump administration fuming, a federal judge in California has slammed the brakes on a decisive effort to roll back a bloated immigration program shielding some 350,000 Venezuelan migrants from deportation. On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Edward Chen issued a ruling that’s being hailed by open-borders activists and decried by those who back the administration’s push to restore order to America’s immigration system.
The Trump team, led by the no-nonsense Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, had set April 7 as the deadline to end the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for these Venezuelans—a program that hands out work permits and deportation shields like candy. Noem’s February announcement was a clear signal: the days of coddling unchecked migration are over. But Chen, in a decision dripping with disdain, put that plan on ice, siding with TPS holders who sued to cling to their perks.
Chen didn’t mince words, calling Noem’s move “unprecedented” and accusing the administration of acting on “negative stereotypes” about Venezuelans. He pointed to Noem’s order, which flagged concerns about Venezuelan gang members slipping into the U.S. and the strain migrants put on American towns. “(T)he Court finds that the Secretary’s action threatens to: inflict irreparable harm on hundreds of thousands of persons whose lives, families, and livelihoods will be severely disrupted, cost the United States billions in economic activity, and injure public health and safety in communities throughout the United States,” Chen wrote, painting a grim picture of a policy he claims the plaintiffs will likely prove is “unauthorized by law, arbitrary and capricious, and motivated by unconstitutional animus.”
For the Trump administration, this is a gut punch. President Trump kicked off his second term with a vow to tighten up TPS, a program Republicans have long slammed as a backdoor for illegal immigrants to stay put. On day one, he ordered a top-down review to keep it lean and mean—limited to what it was meant for, not a sprawling free-for-all. Noem followed through, axing the 2023 TPS designation for Venezuelans and reversing a last-gasp Biden extension. She admitted Venezuela’s still a mess but argued it’s “contrary to the national interest” to keep propping up this policy. Tough call? Sure. But it’s the kind of grit Trump supporters cheered for.
Meanwhile, mass migration advocates are popping champagne. “The Court’s decision provides a crucial protection against mass deportations for a population that this administration has singled out for extreme vilification,” crowed Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of UCLA’s Center for Immigration Law and Policy and a lawyer in the case. They see Chen’s ruling as a lifeline to thwart what they call the biggest deportation drive in U.S. history—a drive Trump’s base sees as a promise kept.
TPS, cooked up by Congress in 1990, was supposed to be a temporary fix for folks fleeing war or disaster. It’s not a golden ticket to citizenship, but it dishes out renewable work permits and deportation delays. Under Biden, it ballooned—Afghanistan, Haiti, Ukraine, you name it, they got TPS. Venezuela’s program is the kingpin, covering about 600,000 people thanks to designations in 2021 and 2023. Biden’s crew justified it by pointing to the chaos under Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolas Maduro, which has sent nearly 8 million people packing—the Western Hemisphere’s biggest exodus ever.
The Conservative Column will keep you updated on any further updates from the courts.
