00:00I'm not going to get ahead of the president on that. I know they're discussing that. I'm part of those discussions, but I'm not going to get ahead of the president. We'll see what they come up with.
00:21Mr. Holman, last week I arrested 11 Iranians who passed through borders during the Biden administration. One of them was a sniper for the Iranian army. The other one was, while he was arrested, he had firearms on him. Given the fact that the Iranian-American community are feeling threatened by the regime from Iran, can you confirm that there will be further crackdown on illegal Iranians who passed through the border during the Biden administration?
00:49Mr. Well, so far, there's over 200 arrests of Iranian nationals. And again, you know, President Trump committed from day one, the priority is going to be public safety threats and national security threats. So we've been on this since January 20th. We didn't wait for the Iran conflict to happen. We've been working on this. But we put our foot on the gas after what happened in Iran a couple weeks ago.
01:10So we're going to identify the national security threats. It's just not ISIS. It's FBI, the Department of Justice, and the intelligence community. We're focusing on national security threats, not just Iranians and others. And that's exactly what we're doing. We're keeping President Trump's promise. That's what we were prioritizing.
01:25There's five widespread fear among-
01:28Mr. If you're in the country illegally, you should have. You should be concerned. It's not okay to be in the country illegally. If you're a national security threat, you should be working. We're looking for you.
01:36But there's widespread fear among Iranian Americans that some sleeper cells have moved into the United States during the Biden administration. What do you know about these so-called sleeper cells?
01:47All Americans should be concerned about sleeper cells. Look, under the Biden administration, you open the border. We got over 2 million known gotaways. That's not a guess. Over 2 million people we know, based on video, drone traffic, sensor traffic, cross the border, they pay more to get away.
02:02We know who they are, where they came from, where they are now, why they're here, right?
02:07So why did 2 million people pay more to get away?
02:10You pay the cartel amount of money to get to the border, turn yourself in a green uniform, right?
02:15Or you pay more to get to New York, Chicago, and not be arrested. Why?
02:19Why didn't they pay less to get a free airline ticket to the city of their choice, a free hotel room, three meals a day, free medical care,
02:27and work authorization in a few months? Why did 2 million people not take advantage of the free giveaway program and pay more to get away?
02:34Because they didn't want to be vetted. They didn't want to be fingerprinted.
02:38They could be the ones that are trafficking in fentanyl. They could be the ones trafficking women and children.
02:42And they could be national security threats.
02:44I said from day one, the Biden administration, I said for four years while he was president,
02:49when they opened the border up, they created the biggest national security vulnerability we've ever seen.
02:54And that's just a fact, and we're seeing it play out.
02:56Lastly, there's a fatwa. There's a fatwa issued by two of Iranian idolists against President Trump,
03:03citing that if he attacks the supreme leader of Iran, it would be halal for Chi-i followers to kill him, to assassinate him.
03:12Are you aware of that fatwa, and what's your response to it?
03:17Look, it's a little out of my lane, but we've got the strongest president in the history of this country in office right now.
03:23So, I don't think that would work out very well for him.
03:28Sir, are there a marine station right now in the San Diego area helping with border protection?
03:33If encounters have dropped as dramatically as we know that we've seen the numbers drop,
03:38why is it necessary for a marine presence to be there near the San Diego border?
03:42Because it's a national security issue right now.
03:44I think we all recognize the national security temperature right now is at a high level.
03:49We're going to take every opportunity we can to secure that border and make sure we don't do what the Biden administration did,
03:55and let the gotaways.
03:56Let me give you, for example, having those resources on the border right now,
04:00on an average day under the Biden administration, we had 1,800 gotaways that we knew of, that we counted in 1,800.
04:06You know what they were today?
04:0818.
04:09So, we got that border locked down.
04:11So, then why is it necessary for the marine presence to be there in addition to the regular border?
04:16So, there's less gotaways.
04:17The more resources we have, the more people we stop from coming to the country,
04:21especially right now during national security, the vulnerability we have right now with Iran and other countries.
04:26I'd rather have too many resources than not enough, because once you make that mistake, there's no going back.
04:31Mr. Cohen, thank you.
04:32Can you talk about that a little bit further in light of the July 4th holiday and what security threats are being watched right now,
04:40concerns about sleeper cells or other things that have been in the country?
04:43Like, the DHS put out a threat assessment to each other.
04:45I agree with that.
04:46We are in heightened alert status right now.
04:49So, every American needs to keep their eye open.
04:51Again, there's several places to report suspicious activity.
04:54You can go to the DHS hotline and report it there.
04:56But, look, today we have the most secure border in the history of this nation.
05:02You have some comfort of that.
05:04But the reason we have the most secure border in the history of this nation is because of President Trump's policy
05:08and having DOD assets to assist border control on the border.
05:11That's why we have that most secure border, which is why we need the big, beautiful bill passed,
05:16because that puts more border control agents on the border, maybe relieves DOD assets.
05:19That puts more ICE agents on the streets of this country to arrest more public safety threats and national security threats.
05:26I looked at numbers this morning.
05:27Over 200 Iranian nationals have been arrested by ICE and brought in.
05:32With more resources, we do more than national security work across the country.
05:35But right now we've got well over 20 million illegal analysts in this country.
05:39We've got less than 5,000 deportation officers.
05:41We need the bill to get more agents on the street.
05:44We need more detention beds, because everybody who rests needs to be a bed before they get removed.
05:49And more contract work, so badges and guns who have immigration authority aren't sitting at a desk doing keystrokes
05:55on some administrative duty that can be done by contract to put that badge and gun on the street
06:00to look for these national security threats.
06:02Big, beautiful, most important.
06:03We need that passed right away.
06:04A quick question for you.
06:05There are reports of a 75-year-old Cuban national who died in ICE custody.
06:09He had lived in the United States for 60 years.
06:12He was being held in ICE detention in Florida.
06:15Is there anything you can tell us about that?
06:16There's still not a lot of information how he died.
06:19I'm unaware of that.
06:20I'm not aware of that.
06:22I mean, people die in ICE custody.
06:24People die in county jails.
06:25People die in state prisons.
06:26I mean, if you look at, you know, when I was the ICE director and we drilled down that,
06:31the question should be how many lives does ICE save?
06:34Because when they go in detention, we find many with diseases and stuff that we deal with right away to prevent death.
06:39So I'm not aware of that specific case, but I'll say this.
06:42People can argue with me all they want, but the facts are the facts.
06:45I think the politicians in New Jersey found this out, that we have the highest detention standards in the industry.
06:52I'll compare an ICE detention facility against any state prison, against any federal facility.
06:56I'll go head-to-head with any of them.
06:59You go to ICE.gov and look at our detention standards.
07:02It's the highest detention standards in the industry at a very expensive cost to the taxpayers.
07:06So, you know, people say, oh, the detention standards are horrendous.
07:09Go look for yourself, then come back and talk to me.
07:12I mean, when we talked about the facility that the congressman tried to get into up in New Jersey, Delaney Hall,
07:18once they got in there, what do they find out?
07:20Detentment standards are outstanding.
07:22Probably the cleanest facility in the entire state.
07:23Again, I'll put our detention standards up to anybody.
07:26When the big, beautiful bill does pass, how do you expect that to impact the number of B4 patients per day?
07:33Will it be two-fold, three-fold?
07:35Vastantly increased.
07:36Depends how quick we get more resources on, how quick we get the contractors on, how quick we bring the beds on.
07:41I mean, Governor DeSantis, I give him credit.
07:43We've got the facility he's putting up in Florida.
07:46We'll be filling those beds as quick as we can because we need more beds.
07:50I mean, I looked at it this morning.
07:51I think we've got, like, 1,700 empty beds.
07:52We'll fill them in two days.
07:53So we need more beds.
07:54That bill is going to let us sign contracts that are pending for more beds.
07:59We don't have the funding to do it.
08:00Once that bill passes and the money comes to the Department of Homeland Security,
08:04we can sign some of those contracts and get more beds right away.
08:06And on the big, beautiful bill, Mr. Homeland, thank you so much for doing this and just keep with us.
08:10We know that President Trump is visiting Alligator Alcatraz tomorrow in Florida.
08:13Can you tell us more about what that, what message it sends and how it relates to the administration's push right now with the big, beautiful bill?
08:21We're going to force immigration law.
08:22Despite all the rhetoric out there against ICE and the men and women who are doing this job,
08:27we're going to be out doing their job.
08:28We're going to be out doing their job.
08:29We're going to arrest every public safety threat and national security threat we can find.
08:33And when we do that, we need a bed.
08:35Governor DeSantis is coming forth with a couple thousand beds.
08:37I applaud them for doing it.
08:38And it's a pretty good cost, too, if you look at the total cost of that bill.
08:41Money that used to go to NGOs, put somebody in the hotel room at 500 bucks a night,
08:45will help fund these facilities.
08:46And here's what you need to know that no one talks about.
08:48Now, facilities that we contract through at Governor DeSantis' facility,
08:53when you're in an ICE contract facility, you get a hearing and a judge within 40 days.
08:59But under the Biden administration, they put them in a custody of an NGO,
09:02put them in a hotel room at 500 bucks a night,
09:04because they know doing that would push your hearing out three, five, seven years,
09:08because immigration judges prioritize those in detention.
09:10So they play the long game.
09:13Let's leave thousands of empty ICE beds already paid for.
09:16Let's leave them empty.
09:17Let's give these people to NGOs.
09:20That pushes a hearing out three, five, seven years.
09:22What happens then?
09:23What they're hoping happens then,
09:24there's a Democratic administration that awards amnesty to millions of people.
09:28That's not going to happen.
09:29We're going to force laws to this country.
09:30People are going to get hearings quicker.
09:32And if anybody goes and look at EOIR website, immigration court website,
09:36here's what the message no one gets across.
09:38You can claim asylum in this country.
09:40If you go to the last 10 years, immigration court data,
09:42nearly 9 out of 10 people who claim asylum get an order of removal,
09:47because they simply don't qualify for asylum.
09:49They're not escaping fear and persecution from the homeland
09:52because of race, religion, and political affiliation.
09:54They're coming here with a better life, and I get that.
09:56That's not asylum.
09:57We're enforcing laws, and the great success we're having proves.
10:01You enforce the law, you can secure the border.
10:02You enforce the law, you can make this country safe again.
10:04That's what we're doing.
10:05Are there going to be more military deployments, sir, anymore?
