‘Baked to death’: Homan rips media while sharing horrific scenes from border enforcement career
Border security ‘Baked to death’: Homan rips media while sharing horrific scenes from border enforcement career
'Secure borders save lives,' border czar Tom Homan said during remarks from DC on Friday
By
Alec Schemmel Fox News
Published
June 26, 2026 7:21pm EDT close 
Video WATCH: Trump border czar describes horrific migrant crisis scenes in fiery speech defending president’s agenda
Trump border czar Tom Homan recalled to a crowd Friday how he 'stood in the back of a tractor trailer with 19 dead people' at his feet, in an address defending Trump's deportation agenda fro attacks of inhumanity and racism.
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!White House border czar Tom Homan erupted at critics of President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda Friday, recalling horrific scenes from his decades in border enforcement — including migrants he said were "baked to death" in a tractor-trailer — as he argued that secure borders save lives.
Homan used the graphic stories during remarks at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Policy Conference in Washington, D.C., to push back on critics who have accused the Trump administration of being inhumane, arguing instead that tougher border enforcement saves lives by deterring migrants from making dangerous journeys controlled by cartels.
"I want to talk about why I’m pissed off this morning," Homan told the crowd, arguing that media coverage has falsely portrayed Trump’s immigration policies as cruel or inhumane.
BORDER CZAR TOM HOMAN SLAMS CATHOLIC CHURCH, SAYS ‘SECURE BORDER SAVES LIVES’
White House border czar Tom Homan is seen as he holds a press conference along the border wall between San Diego, Calif., and Tijuana, Mexico, on Dec. 13, 2025, to announce increased security along the Southwest border. (REUTERS/Mike Blake)
"There’s nothing further from the truth," Homan said. Rather, the border czar said critics have it backward, arguing that lax border enforcement creates the conditions for migrants to be exploited, assaulted or killed by smugglers and cartels. "What President Trump is doing is saving lives," Homan told the crowd.
He then described one of the most graphic scenes he said he witnessed during his career in border enforcement.
"I’ve stood in the back of a tractor-trailer with 19 dead people at my feet," Homan told the crowd at the Washington Hilton Friday morning, adding that the victims included a young boy and that they were found in their underwear while trying to escape extreme heat in the back of the truck.
"They all baked to death," Homan said. "I got to that crime scene. They're all in underwear, trying to get some relief from the 170 degree heat in the back of a steel truck with no air. Think of the way these people died."
Texas Department of Public Safety said about 50 illegal immigrants were found in a junkyard tractor trailer in Webb County and turned over to Border Patrol. Five adult males who initially exited the trailer were apprehended. (Texas DPS)
Homan also said he has spoken with young girls who were raped by cartel members while making the journey to the U.S. border.
"I’ve gotten on my knees to talk to little girls as young as 9 that were raped multiple times by members of a cartel," Homan said.
"That’s what happens when you have an unsecured border," he added. "Well, guess what? There’s no little 9-year-old girl right now that everybody’s getting on their knees and talking to. President Trump has closed the border down."
Homan repeatedly defended Trump personally and politically, saying the president has delivered the "most secure border in the history of this nation" and arguing that the administration’s immigration crackdown is aimed at preventing more deaths, trafficking and cartel exploitation.
U.S. President Donald Trump's deportation agenda has faced criticism from Democrats and immigrant-rights advocates. (Michael M. Santiago and Nathan Howard / Getty Images)
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"Secure borders save lives," Homan said near the end of his remarks. "Secure borders protect our national security. No one’s done it better than President Trump. And we ain’t finished yet."
The remarks came as the Trump administration continues to face criticism from Democrats and immigrant-rights advocates over its mass deportation push, expanded immigration enforcement and efforts to reverse Biden-era border policies. Homan, however, framed the crackdown as a moral necessity, saying the administration is making the country safer while reducing incentives for migrants to place themselves in the hands of criminal cartels.
Alec Schemmel is a Politics Reporter for Fox News Digital who is originally from Charlotte, North Carolina but now resides in the Washington D.C.-Baltimore Metro Area.
Badenoch blasts 'moaning' female Labour MPs over Burnham jobs 'quota'
Kemi Badenoch has told Labour women to earn a job in Andy Burnham's Cabinet instead of demanding they are handed jobs because of their gender.
The Tory leader lashed out today amid reports that female MPs are demanding the de-facto new prime minister introduce a 50:50 gender split 'quota' in his government.
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister also complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts.
But in a scathing article in the Times today Mrs Badenoch told them to 'stop moaning' and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'.
'There are many, many reasons why you shouldn't have any Milibands in the cabinet,' she said.
'But complaining that the boys haven't given them the right jobs or that the boys are taking all the jobs, just shows that Labour's women still don't get it.'
The idea of quotas was also attacked by Baroness Jacqui Smith, Labour's Skills Minister.
Asked by Times Radio if Mr Burnham should reserve jobs for women, she said: 'No, I think what Andy Burnham should be doing is building the very best team around him to change this country.'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband (above, right, in 2010) is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts
But Mrs Badenoch told them to pipe down and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party and seen by the BBC has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs after he succeeds Sir Keir Starmer.
'We are asking you to demonstrate this change from day one and address the toxicity and misogyny within our own party and government,' it said.
Labour has never had a female leader, while the Conservatives have had three, and Mrs Badenoch urged the government to follow its meritocratic example.
'If you run a meritocracy, then you do not have to worry about jobs for the boys,' she wrote.
'Every woman who is a Conservative MP, every woman who has ever won the leadership, has had to fight to get where she is.
'By contrast, Labour women are demanding guarantees from Burnham. But the truth is he doesn't have to give any guarantees.
'If none of Labour's women are prepared to get their hands dirty and challenge him for the leadership, their demands are toothless.'
'In fact, it's quite revealing that the women's parliamentary Labour Party has written to Burnham asking him to commit himself to at least 50 per cent female ministers.
'This has nothing to do with meritocracy. It is yet more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country.'
