Border czar Tom Homan on ongoing partial government shutdown

(CBS, KYMA) - Border czar Tom Homan spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday about the ongoing partial government shutdown.

On Friday, House Republicans rejected a Senate-passed bill to end the partial government shutdown, which is now in its 45th day as of Monday, and instead voted for short-term funding, which the Senate rejected.

According to Brennan, Congress is gone until mid-April, prompting her to ask Homan if President Donald Trump will compel them to come back to Capitol Hill and sort it out, to which he said:

"I hope so. I mean, they got to fund the Department of Homeland Security. Again, we're talking about the Department of Homeland Security, and we're in an increased threat posture right now because what's going on in the world, we've got to keep this country safe, which means we got to we got to fund the members of the Coast Guard and CISA and Secret Service and all these other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security. I know the president found a way to pay TSA workers so we can get the American public through those lines and he also came up with the idea of sending ICE agents to the airport, which has had an impact. So, we just need to get the department funded. They want to talk about, you know, immigration policies. We can talk about that. But, why do you got to hold the rest of the DHS hostage to do that? Let's sit down and talk. I've been talking to them for the last two weeks."

During the interview, Brennan asked Homan if he expects the 500 TSA officers who have quit will be rehired, and if we're going to have problems at airports in the foreseeable future, and Homan said:

"We're going to continue a nice presence there, and until the airports feel like they're in- they're in 100% you know, in a posture where they can do no normal operations. If less TSA agents come back, that means we'll keep more ICE agents there. The President has been clear. He wants to secure those airports, especially, as I said earlier, in an increased threat posture, we need to secure those airports. ICE is there to help our brothers and sisters in TSA. We'll be there as long as they need us, until they get back to normal operations and feel like those airports are secure."

Later in the interview, Brennan and Homan talked about one of the policy changes the Democrats are demanding is ICE being required to secure a judicial warrant from a judge before entering a home and making an arrest, which would change the current ICE policy as it relies on some administrative warrants.

During his confirmation hearing, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said, "I said, we will not enter a home or a place of business without a judicial warrant, unless we're pursuing the individual that runs into a place of business or a residence or a house."

This led Brennan to ask Homan when it will take place after Secretary Mullin agreed to the change, and Homan said:

"I think we're already in discussions on that. You know, there are certain sections of law on a Section I-205, where it's legally...you are illegally able to enter a home and a district court has upheld that. But these are discussions we're having right now...I talk to Secretary Markwayne Mullin every day, several times a day. We're talking with members of the White House. We're already working all these policies, not really policy and how we...it's about execution. Again, the laws are the laws. If they don't like the law to allow us entry into the home, then change the law. But it's also they want an arrest warrant to just arrest an illegal alien. There's nothing in federal law says that. Matter of fact, the law that Congress wrote says you can arrest an illegal alien with an administrative warrant. That's what the federal statute says. Again, but they want- they want judicial warrants just to arrest an illegal alien. They're asking for changes in policy. That's really about changes in the law. Again, if they don't like what ICE is doing, they can change the law. It's that simple."

To watch more of Brennan's interview with Homan, click here.