White House border czar Tom Homan blamed the return of migrant caravans in Mexico on what he called “the Biden effect.”
Homan said on Fox News’s America Reports that Democrats’ midterm wins would not change how the Trump administration enforces immigration law. He said:
Congress may be more blue. Texas may be more blue, but the White House is red, bright red. And again, President Trump created the most secure border in history. These caravans come to the border all they want. They’re not going to be released in the United States. They’re going to be turned around or prosecuted, then turned around because we will charge them with a crime so they can sit in jail, serve their sentence before they’re deported.
Homan also called on Mexico to deploy troops along its northern and southern borders, as it did during Trump’s first term. In 2019, Mexico sent 6,000 National Guard personnel to its southern border and surrounding areas under an agreement that headed off tariffs Trump had threatened to impose on Mexican imports.
A caravan left Tapachula, near Mexico’s border with Guatemala, on Tuesday and was walking north through Chiapas on Wednesday. A state government source estimated that about 1,500 people were traveling with the group, including families with young children. Some migrants told Reuters they hoped Democrats’ midterm wins would give them more ways to live and work legally in the United States.
Mexican authorities were already moving to stop migrants in Chiapas. AFP reported that local footage showed National Guard personnel, immigration officers, and state police blocking a road after migrants crossed the Suchiate River from Guatemala.
The Department of Homeland Security said in October that preliminary figures for fiscal year 2026 showed southwest border apprehensions were down 95 percent compared with the Biden administration. The department also said it was the first full fiscal year in which Border Patrol recorded zero releases.
Before the midterms, Vice President JD Vance warned that illegal border crossings could rise if Democrats won. He urged voters to back Republicans after sharing footage of migrants traveling through Mexico in October. Some said they hoped Democrats would win seats in Congress and push for changes to Trump’s immigration policies.
“When Democrats get elected, the border gets flooded. No one understands that better than the murderers, rapists, and drug runners south of our border,” Vance wrote. “Vote Republican next Tuesday.”
