‘I Don’t Believe the Polls!’ Tom Homan Dismisses Surveys Showing Trump Deep Underwater on Immigration in MSNBC Interview

President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan dismissed polling that showed the administration’s immigration policy deep underwater, saying that he flat-out did not “believe” the numbers and attacking the media for pushing “negative rhetoric” about deportations.

Homan appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Tuesday, where co-host Jonathan Lemire asked him about the findings of a CBS News/YouGov poll, published Monday, that found 56% of those surveyed disapproved of the Trump administration’s deportation drive.

“That’s a ten-point drop from back in February, blamed by some on some of the in-your-face tactics the masked ICE agents, the detention centers like Alligator Alcatraz,” Lemire said, asking: “Why do you think that the majority of Americans right now do not like what they’re seeing?”

Homan replied: “Well, first of all, I don’t believe the polls. Second of all, if there’s any movement in the polls at all, it’s because of the false stories out there about ICE. Like I read, I read in the paper every day that a majority of people in ICE custody are not criminals. Wrong.”

He continued, arguing that the majority of those in custody had a “criminal history” and added that those who didn’t, including over 200 Iranian nationals, were a “national security threat.”

Rounding on the news media, Homan accused outlets and lawmakers criticizing ICE of “raising the rhetoric” to dangerous levels: “I think the media is purposely giving misinformation to the American people about what ICE doing and is raising the rhetoric. And because of this false narrative that is being pushed out about ICE, that’s why – it feeds the rhetoric, the negative rhetoric – that’s why we have an 800% increase in violence against ICE officers.”

He added: “People need to know that ICE officers are simply enforcing the laws that Congress enacted. And you got members of congress out there comparing ICE to, you know, Nazis and to racists and to terrorists. They’re simply enforcing laws that they – Congress – enacted. But so if ICE, you know, if they’re racist for enforcing the law, what does that make members of congress who wrote the law? It’s just ridiculous!”

“And the rhetoric has to be tamped down or we’re going to see more violence. I said two months ago, if the rhetoric didn’t decrease, there would be bloodshed. And there has been,” Homan said.

Defending his team, host Joe Scarborough condemned violence against agents as unacceptable and said that he had been “critical of permissive policies on illegal immigration for very long time” but incidents where masked plain clothed officers conducted arrests had worried the public.

Scarborough continued: “We all have sons and daughters, you know, and [if] my daughter had people coming up to her in masks, throwing her into a car. You know, I would say fight like hell. But of course, here, though, if it’s law enforcement officers, you would say do what the law enforcement officers tell you to do. How do we fix that?”

Homan replied that masked agents were defending themselves and their families, arguing that he hadn’t seen an operation where an agent did not have a “patch.”

He concluded: “How do we get rid of the mask? Stop the hateful rhetoric! Assaults on ICE officers are up over 800%. And I specifically mean members of congress. If members in congress can compare ICE to the Nazis, that gives some of those people on the far left that know that there are out of control people, it emboldens them to take action. I’m just asking let’s stop the hateful rhetoric.”

Watch above via MSNBC.