Border czar Tom Homan sparred with a CBS News correspondent on Friday after being asked about a rising number of deaths among migrants in ICE custody, accusing the network of posing a “loaded question” and repeatedly demanding comparable figures from the Biden administration.
CBS News immigration correspondent Camilo Montoya-Galvez pressed Homan on deaths in ICE custody under the Trump administration, noting the current year could set a new record.
“We looked at official ICE data, sir, and found that 57 people have died in the agency’s custody so far under this administration,” Montoya-Galvez said. “In fact, somebody was just reported to have died in ICE custody today by the agency. 2026 could set a new record high in the number of detainees dying. What is being done to prevent that?”
Montoya-Galvez acknowledged that rising detention numbers are “one partial explanation” for the deaths, but asked Homan whether that could be the only cause.
Homan did not directly answer and instead turned the question back on the reporter. “How many people died during the Biden administration?” he asked, followed by a pause. “How many people died in custody during the Biden administration? Do you know?”
Montoya-Galvez replied that “a significant number” had died, but when Homan pressed him further, the correspondent admitted, “I don’t have the data here.”
“Of course you don’t,” Homan said. “Again, it’s another loaded question against the Trump administration.”
Homan defends ICE detention standards
Homan argued that ICE maintains rigorous standards at its facilities. “We have the highest detention standards in industry, higher than any state or federal institution. Our deaths in custody … are among the lowest of any state prison or Bureau of Prisons. Numbers are up because our population has doubled in custody. We got over 70 — I think the other day we had like 74,000 in custody,” he said.
He said the medical care detainees receive in ICE custody is extensive enough that some detainees learn of previously undiagnosed health issues while in the agency’s care. “So we have more people in custody, and we’re dealing with people from third-world nations,” Homan said. “Some of the first doctors they see are our doctors. And matter of fact, no one ever talks about how many lives that ICE saves in detention when they found a serious medical issue that the alien didn’t even know about and we treat. When I was ICE director, I think we spent almost a billion dollars on medical care.”
Homan compared the agency’s record to that of federal and state prison systems. “Again, it’s unfortunate, and it’s sad when anybody dies. I don’t want to see anybody die, but we do everything we can to give them the best medical care that we can provide. And again, highest detention standards,” he said. “I think if you look at deaths in custody compared to state prisons or federal penitentiaries, I think we’re one of the lowest. At least the last time I looked at the data — it was probably a couple years ago — we’re the lowest.”
Outside reaction
Theo Wold, a former acting assistant attorney general and deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy during President Donald Trump’s first administration, criticized the CBS reporter’s approach in comments to Fox News Digital.
“This is what passes for journalism in modern America — a reporter comes prepared with gotcha questions but no backup data,” Wold said. “The purpose isn’t to inform the public (which ought to be the goal of journalism), it’s to manufacture ideological sound bites for the nightly news.”
Wold added that “no one wants in-custody deaths, but no administration can avoid them,” arguing that the Trump administration has more than doubled Biden-era enforcement levels, which he said accounts for the higher number of people detained and, in turn, more deaths in custody.
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