President Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, said Saturday that a Florida judge’s order to temporarily close parts of Alligator Alcatraz “won’t stop” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations. Migrants apprehended by federal agents could instead be sent to other detention facilities.
“They’re not going to stop us from doing what we’re doing. We’ll follow the judge’s order, litigate, and appeal it. But the bottom line is, we’re going to continue arresting public safety threats and national security threats every day across this country,” Homan told NewsNation, The Hill’s sister network, in an exclusive interview.
“If we need to send them to another facility, that’s what we’ll do. That’s why the president has requested 100,000 beds in the Big, Beautiful Bill. So we’re going to build 100,000 beds—we won’t face a lack of bed space,” Homan added to NewsNation correspondent Libbey Dean. “For every illegal alien we arrest, we need a bed. That’s why the 100,000 beds are crucial. Radical judges may slow us down a bit, but they won’t stop us.”
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, a former President Obama appointee, ruled Thursday that Florida cannot bring more migrants to Alligator Alcatraz and must temporarily shut down portions of the facility.
Williams ordered the state to halt the facility’s expansion, remove additional lighting, and dismantle all “generators, gas, sewage, and other waste and waste receptacles that were installed to support this project” within two months.
Florida appealed the ruling Friday morning.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) criticized Williams’ decision, saying the judge would not “give us a fair shake.”
“This was preordained, a clear activist judge attempting to make policy from the bench,” DeSantis said Friday at an event in Panama City. “This is not going to deter us. We’ll continue advancing deportations and carrying out that mission.”
Homan emphasized that the administration respects “every judge’s order while we appeal and litigate it.”
“So, will it be shut down in the interim?” Dean asked.
“I don’t think that decision’s been made yet. We’re reviewing it—it’s really a DOJ [Justice Department] matter. We’ll see how it proceeds,” Homan replied. “We’re not going to defy a court; we take it to a higher level and appeal it.”
