Border Czar Slams Companies that Criticize Workplace Raids: 'No One Hires Illegal Aliens on the Goodness of Their Heart'

Trump's border czar Tom Homan said Sunday that workplace immigration enforcement operations will expand following last week's raid at a Hyundai facility in Georgia that resulted in hundreds of arrests, calling out companies that criticize the measure.

Speaking with CNN's Jake Tapper, Homan said

"We're going to do more worksite enforcement operations because number one, it's a crime to enter this country illegally. Number two, it's a crime to knowingly hire an illegal alien, and these companies that hire illegal aliens, they undercut the competition that's paying U.S. citizen salaries."

Homan then added that "no one hires illegal aliens on the goodness of their heart" and that "they hire them because they work them harder, pay them less, and undercut the competition," as Fox News reports.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained nearly 500 people during the operation at an electric battery plant run by Hyundai and LG Energy Solution last week. Federal officials said most of those arrested were South Korean nationals working illegally in the United States, either by overstaying visas or violating visa waivers. A Homeland Security Investigations agent confirmed that some U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents were also among those detained.

The Trump administration has said immigration enforcement remains a central policy, with Homan arguing on CNN that workplace raids contribute to what he described as "the most secure border in history." Homan claimed he had personal experience with how undocumented immigrants put Americans out of work citing a situation in which he needed a roof replacement:

"I talked to one company, just a father and son, who laid off 20 citizen employees because they couldn't win a bid. The competition were bidding a lot less for a job because they were paying employees a lot less to work because they're illegally in the United States"

Elsewhere in the interview, Homan confirmed that sanctuary cities are a priority for immigration enforcement in the upcoming week. "You can expect action in most sanctuary cities across the country," he said, citing Chicago as one example and explaining that Illinois governor JB Pritzker had been "notified from day one" about the administration's plans.