Federal officials have drawn up plans to increase the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel operating in New York City, according to border czar Tom Homan. Homan said on television Monday that he had reviewed an operational plan to expand ICE's presence in the city and that the deployment will occur at an unspecified time.
Homan said he alerted New York Governor Kathy Hochul about the intended surge prior to her signing of state legislation last month that restricts ICE operations and bans masked agents from conducting enforcement within New York. He described his private notification to the governor as a warning that the federal agency would respond if state measures constrained its ability to act.
"You’re going to see more ICE than you’ve ever seen in New York City, and it’s coming," Homan said on Fox. He added that he had reviewed an operational plan but would not disclose exactly when the increased presence would begin.
Officials in the Trump administration, including Homan, have previously threatened to send additional immigration agents to New York City. Homan noted that although such threats have been made before, a deployment on the scale of operations carried out in other Democrat-run cities and states has not yet taken place in New York.
Homan also said he had privately told Governor Hochul that he would increase ICE staffing in the city if the state law prevented federal agents from arresting people who were already in police custody. He argued that making arrests of individuals already detained in jails is a more straightforward option for immigration agents than conducting enforcement actions within the wider community.
The timing of any deployment remains unclear. Homan emphasized that he would not reveal the start date for the planned increase in personnel, repeating that the operational plan exists and that the surge is forthcoming.
Clear summary
- Tom Homan said the Trump administration has prepared an operational plan to increase ICE personnel in New York City and informed Governor Kathy Hochul before she signed legislation limiting ICE activities.
- Homan declined to provide a timetable for the deployment but said the increase is coming, and that arrests of people already in custody would be easier for ICE than community operations.