Trump Border Czar Blasts Hunter Biden: 'Former First Drug Addict'
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President Donald Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, dismissed Hunter Biden's criticism of the administration's immigration policy, saying he did not care what the "former first drug addict" thought.
Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden, made the comments in an interview with independent journalist Andrew Callaghan that touched on a broad range of issues, including immigration.
The younger Biden was convicted of three felony charges for federal gun violations in June 2024 and pardoned by his father in December.
Hunter Biden has spoken publicly of his drug use. In his 2021 memoir, Beautiful Things, he wrote, "I was a crack addict and that was that."
Then-President Joe Biden, left, and his son Hunter Biden in Nantucket, Massachusetts, on November 29, 2024.
Then-President Joe Biden, left, and his son Hunter Biden in Nantucket, Massachusetts, on November 29, 2024.
MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images
Why It Matters
Trump campaigned forcefully on the promise of mass deportations and beefed-up borders. The administration's actions, which include a marked increase in ICE raids, have underscored this focus.
While immigration remains a cornerstone of Trump's second term and a defining issue of his administration, a poll this week by CNN showed that he hit a record low approval rating on the issue.
What To Know
In his interview on Callaghan's Channel 5, Hunter Biden dismissed "people that are really upset about illegal immigration," adding: "How do you think your hotel room gets cleaned? How do you think you've got food on your f****** table? Who do you think washes your dishes?"
In an interview on Fox News' The Ingraham Angle, Homan derided Hunter Biden and defended the administration's immigration policy.
"I don't really care what the former first drug addict thinks. I just thank God every morning I wake up we've got President Trump in the Oval Office," Homan said.
He continued: "Because of President Trump, in seven weeks we've got the most secure border in the nation's history, and now we're arresting public safety threats and national security threats every day across this country. We've already arrested three times the number of criminals that Biden did during the same time frame."
Homan added that Trump had recently committed to prioritizing immigration action in "sanctuary cities," which have laws and policies that limit or prevent their law enforcement officials from assisting federal officers with civil immigration arrests.
In a Sunday poll from CNN conducted by SSRS, the president had a 42 percent approval rating on immigration and a 58 percent disapproval rating. The survey was taken between July 10 and 13 among 1,057 U.S. adults. It had a margin of error of 3.5 percent.
In a survey taken from April 17 to 24, the president had a 45 percent approval rating and a 54 percent disapproval rating on immigration. In March, Trump had a 51 percent approval rating on the issue in a poll by CNN and SSRS, with a 48 percent disapproval rating.
The survey also showed that 55 percent of U.S. adults believed the president had gone too far in deporting immigrants living in the country illegally. This is an uptick from an April poll showing that 52 percent believed so and a February poll showing 45 percent.
What People Are Saying
Tom Homan, the border czar, told Fox News in reference to sanctuary cities: "We're going to flood the zone. We're going to send hundreds of additional ICE agents to these cities. If they don't want to help us and get the bad guy in the county jail, then we're going to flood the neighborhoods until we find that guy. We're going to flood worksites until we find that guy because we're going to make this country safe again."
Political analyst Craig Agranoff told Newsweek via text message on Monday: "This shift likely stems from increasing public discomfort with the administration's aggressive deportation policies and proposals for massive new detention centers, which polls show a majority of Americans oppose as going too far."
What Happens Next
Immigration will likely remain a divisive issue, shaping the domestic political landscape and the broader debate on the U.S.'s identity and values.
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