White House border official Tom Homan defended U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) use of unmarked vehicles on Sunday. On CBS’ “Face the Nation.” Clash with moderator Margaret Brennan over whether officers displayed emergency lights while pursuing a Houston man who was fatally shot.
Homan argued that unmarked vehicles helped officers locate suspects and asserted that the recent deaths could have been avoided through compliance.
“But the bottom line is we’ll see when the investigation ends, but they would be alive today if they simply complied with being stopped by a federal law enforcement officer. Just comply,” Homan said.
Brennan raised concerns about the unmarked vehicle used before an ICE officer fatally shot 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo.
Salgado’s family said they believed he was being pursued by thieves, not federal agents.
“Well, the guy’s family in Houston said they thought he was robbed because it was an unmarked vehicle,” Brennan said.
“Not that it was law enforcement at all.”
Homan confirmed that ICE vehicles contain equipment that allows officers to identify themselves during a stop.
“They had the emergency lights on. They activated the emergency lights. The blue lights,” Homan said.
“You know, I’m driving my car, where I’m with my security guards, we have emergency lights.”
Brennan challenged Homan to prove that claim, noting that publicly available videos did not appear to show emergency lights and that the officers involved were not wearing body cameras.
“There were lights, because the videos we saw weren’t there, and because there were no body cameras,” Brennan said.
“Some of what you’re saying is hard to prove.”
Homan admitted that he had not reviewed the videos of the Houston incident.
“Well, I didn’t watch the videos,” Homan said.
The border czar amended his previous claim, saying the vehicles should have had lights and sirens, but acknowledged he could not confirm whether officers used them.
“Now, if they didn’t turn the lights on, again, I wouldn’t have watched that video,” Homan said.
“If they don’t activate the lights, there’s a problem there, right?”
“There are a lot of police departments, and I’m in New York City now, and a lot of NYPD officers drive unmarked vehicles, and that helps them find people who don’t want to be found, right?”
He supported the nationwide rollout of body cameras, arguing that the footage would allow the public to see encounters from the officer’s perspective.
“I think body cameras are the perfect solution,” Homan said.
“I think body cameras let the American people know what that officer is seeing when he takes that action.”
ICE has purchased cameras and is training employees to spread throughout the country, Homan said.
The agency will require officers to record vehicle stops using at least one body camera.
Federal officials acknowledged that Salgado was not the intended target of the Houston operation.
ICE initially said he rammed a federal vehicle and tried to run over an officer, prompting the officer to shoot in self-defense.
Witnesses in Salgado’s truck disputed the agency’s account.
After six days, An ICE officer shot and killed a Colombian driver in Bedford, Maine, which was also not the intended target of the operation.
The Department of Homeland Security said the officer opened fire “out of fear for public safety” while the driver attempted to flee.
Investigations into the two shooting incidents are still ongoing.
A third man, a 28-year-old Mexican national, was killed after being struck by a trailer after fleeing federal immigration agents in St. Augustine, Florida.