It was only hours after New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu blasted the Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting director, Tom Homan, that the White House came to Homan's defense.
The heated exchange between Landrieu and the Trump administration comes as speculation mounts about Homan succeeding newly picked White House Chief of Staff John Kelly as secretary of homeland security.
Speaking at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast, Landrieu, president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, took a shot at Homan for remarks the ICE chief made to White House reporters on June 28: "Most [law enforcement agencies] work with us, but many don’t in the largest cities, and that is where criminal aliens and criminal gangs flourish."
“First of all, he’s just wrong about that — that kind of rhetoric is really not helpful, especially from that particular podium,” Landrieu replied, when Newsmax quoted Homan’s words to him at the breakfast. “Our police officers keep the streets safe irrespective of immigration status and we do so all the time.”
At the regular briefing for White House reporters later that day, Newsmax asked press secretary Sarah Sanders her opinion of Landrieu’s attack on Homan.
“Look, I think Tom has served our country well,” she replied. “He's been active in law enforcement. And I would certainly trust his opinion. [There is] a lot of confidence in him and his ability, having been in a multitude of different positions within law enforcement and been able to see it in a lot of different places, not just one location, like the mayor.
The president’s top spokesman went on to say she “would certainly defer to Tom on this issue.”
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.