Kathy Hochul declared war on ICE – and Tom Homan just handed her the bill.
The New York governor has spent months building sanctuary walls around illegal immigrants in her state.
Now she's about to find out what that decision actually costs.
What Homan Said and What the Media Twisted
Tom Homan sat down with Laura Ingraham on Wednesday and said something the media immediately declared a scandal.
About 60% of ICE arrests right now involve criminals.
The other 40% are people in the country illegally who haven't picked up additional charges – but broke federal immigration law the moment they crossed without authorization.
Homan's point was simple: 60% criminal is a better number than what Biden's ICE ever produced.
Under Biden, interior enforcement got so gutted that criminal aliens in sanctuary cities learned they had nothing to fear from federal agents showing up at their door.
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2052172096940171499?s=20
Homan isn't defending the 40%.
He's explaining what sanctuary policies guarantee – and Hochul is about to prove him right.
The Trap Hochul Set for Her Own Constituents
Here's the part Hochul doesn't want New Yorkers to understand.
When ICE hunts a fugitive MS-13 member in Queens, they don't operate in a sterile environment.
They go where the target is.
The target is often surrounded by people – family members, housemates, coworkers – who are also in the country illegally.
Under normal operations, with local law enforcement sharing information, ICE finds the criminal fast, makes the arrest, and leaves.
Hochul's sanctuary push forces ICE to work harder, go deeper, and stay longer to find targets the local cops won't help them locate.
Every extra hour ICE spends hunting means more collateral contacts.
Homan spelled it out directly on The Ingraham Angle: "When you force us into the community to find the bad guy – and we will find them – many times they're with others."
Those others are coming too.
Hochul built that math herself.
Homan Put New York on Notice by Name
Two days ago at the Border Security Expo in Phoenix, Homan made it explicit.
Sanctuary jurisdictions like New York will see collateral arrests go up, not down.
"You will see collateral arrests increase in these areas," Homan said. "You see more agents in your neighborhoods because you forced us in this position."
Hochul fired back the same day: "Donald Trump himself said he would not send a surge of ICE agents to the state of New York unless I ask. I'm not asking."
That's a bluff – and Homan knows it.
Sanctuary laws don't prevent federal enforcement.
They just make it slower, messier, and more disruptive to the immigrant communities Hochul claims she's protecting.
Albany Democrats spent the spring budget fight pushing a statewide sanctuary law that would ban local police from communicating with ICE entirely – and they nearly got it across the finish line.
Hochul has been the one holding that door open.
What Biden's Approach Actually Delivered
Under Trump's first term, ICE interior arrest operations ran at 70-plus percent criminal rates.
The Center for Immigration Studies documented that in FY 2017 and FY 2018, roughly 72-78% of interior arrests involved aliens with criminal convictions or pending charges.
Then Biden took over and dismantled interior enforcement entirely.
Criminal aliens in New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles figured out fast that the deportation threat was gone.
The result wasn't safety for immigrant communities – it was criminal aliens embedded inside those same neighborhoods with no accountability and no removal.
That's the trade Hochul wants to lock in permanently.
The People Hochul's Policies Actually Hurt
Sanctuary policies are sold as protection for immigrant communities.
The actual result is that criminal aliens who should have been deported stay in those same neighborhoods – preying on the legal immigrants and citizens who live there.
The most common crimes in ICE's arrest pool include assault, drug trafficking, and DUI – offenses that victimize neighbors, not strangers across town.
Hochul isn't protecting immigrants from ICE.
She's protecting criminals from deportation and handing the consequences to the people who followed the rules and earned the right to be here.
Homan has made New York his example case.
He promised to flood the zone in jurisdictions that play games with federal law.
New York just raised its hand and volunteered to go first.
Sources:
- Ian Hanchett, "Homan: 60% of Arrests Are Criminal Illegals, Other 40% Are Not, That's 'Good Percentage'," Breitbart, May 6, 2026.
- "Markwayne Mullin, Tom Homan Promise More Deportations, Less Street Drama," Breitbart, May 6, 2026.
- "Homan: 'Mass Deportations Are Coming'," The Daily Signal, May 6, 2026.
- Center for Immigration Studies, "A True Comparison of ICE Arrests Under Trump II and Biden," CIS.org, March 3, 2026.
- "Hochul's Folly: Sanctuary Politics Over Public Safety," Chronicles Magazine, May 5, 2026.