Tom Homan is not backing down.
The former Trump border czar slammed Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez. Their claim? That ICE agents tried to raid a Chicago elementary school.
It was a lie, Homan said.
“Pedro Martinez lied,” Homan told America Reports.
Martinez went on MSNBC and claimed ICE agents showed up at Hamline Elementary. He said school staff followed protocols and refused to share information. The media ran with it. Panic spread.
But there was a problem.
It wasn’t ICE. It was the U.S. Secret Service.
Martinez knew that, Homan said. “They left their credentials. He knew exactly who they were. So he lied. Again, sowing fear in the immigrant community.”
Then came Pritzker’s post. The Illinois governor took to X, formerly Twitter. He declared, “The first reports of raids in Chicago are at an elementary school. Targeting children and separating families is cruel and un-American.”
Homan was furious.
“Rather than calling ICE and asking, ‘Did this happen?’ he goes on social media and terrifies elementary schoolers,” Homan said. “He accuses me of terrifying the community. No, he terrified the community. He terrified the children.”
Homan demanded an apology.
“What he did was just plain wrong,” he said. “Children shouldn’t have to fear ICE agents walking into an elementary school to arrest them.”
Check this out:
The White House Fires Back
The Biden administration might have let this story run wild. The Trump White House? They shut it down.
Within days, the administration issued a statement. On Tuesday the White House called out Pritzker and Martinez for spreading a hoax.
“Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) and Chicago Public Schools officials claimed, without bothering to verify, that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents had conducted a ‘raid’ at a local elementary school,” the White House wrote. “A false claim echoed by media outlets, including the Chicago Tribune.”
Then they dropped the hammer:
“FACT: It was actually the U.S. Secret Service investigating a threat unrelated to immigration.”
The speed of the response mattered.
Democrats tried to use the false story to attack Trump’s immigration policies. They painted ICE as targeting children. It was a coordinated media blitz.
But the White House wasn’t caught off guard.
Homan had already gone on air, shutting down the lie. Then, the administration reinforced the truth. A one-two punch.
No Apologies, Moving Forward
Homan made it clear. ICE isn’t backing down.
“President Trump won the election on this one issue, securing our border and saving lives,” he said. “We’re going to do this job. We’re going to enforce the laws of this country. If they don’t like it, then go to Congress and change the law.”
As for apologies from Pritzker or Martinez?
Don’t hold your breath.