Tom Homan, the so-called border czar, takes after his boss, Donald Trump, in using bluster and a hollow bravado as a stand-in for expertise or preparedness, appearing to talk loudly and only think through what he’s said later, if at all.
That seemed to be the case yesterday as Homan helmed a press conference in Albany with GOP state legislators, where he once again falsely insinuated that there was something illegal or improper about states and localities exercising their right to not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
He repeated the evidence-free administration line that detained former Columbia grad student Mahmoud Khalil was a “national security threat” and waved off concerns over free speech, saying glibly “I keep hearing ‘freedom of speech, freedom of speech, freedom of speech’… Free speech has limitations.” He told NYC to “get out of the way.”
You know what, Mr. Homan? New York City has faced much worse than you. We had seven years of British military occupation during the Revolutionary War; we’ve faced economic meltdown, the deadliest terror attack in recorded history, acute natural disaster and being the locus of a global pandemic, and that’s just the last quarter century.
We stick together, and we know our rights. The only reason Homan has been raving at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other officials over their know-your-rights efforts is because he wants to violate those rights.
Now, Homan’s administration wants to use the awesome powers of the federal law enforcement apparatus to intimidate and silence those who disagree with their policy agenda. He has threatened criminal prosecution against AOC. Florida GOP Rep. Ana Paulina Luna has absurdly attempted to refer multiple big city mayors, including ours, for criminal prosecution merely for presiding over jurisdictions with sanctuary policies.
The Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office has reportedly sent a criminal subpoena to a hotel legally providing migrant shelter services demanding information on families housed there as well as elected officials involved in disbursing the funding, none of which is even remotely a crime.
And, of course, there’s the targeting of Khalil, which so far no one in the administration has even tried to pretend is motivated by anything other than his speech. At this point, right-wing influencers aligned with the president are even harassing Manhattan Federal Judge Jesse Furman for blocking any potential deportation of Khalil on the grounds that the government is violating his First Amendment rights; it’s intimidation all the way down.
Homan is correct that speech is not unlimited. But those limitations are already pretty well-established, thoroughly litigated and quite narrow. Defamation, incitement with clear and present danger, perjury; these are the places we’ve drawn the line.
Where we haven’t drawn the line is political speech and opinion, no matter how abhorrent, counterproductive or disturbing anyone might personally find it. The First Amendment was put at the top of the Bill of Rights because the Founders were well aware of what would happen without it, and we’ve all seen the realities of those places where people cannot express their opposition to the regime.
We’re not going there. New York will stand tall against these abuses. We’ve weathered worse and we will keep on looking after each other once bullies like Homan pass from the scene.