Tony Dokoupil Tells Tom Homan, ‘It’s Just Not Believable’ That ICE Agents Haven’t Used ‘Excessive Force’

CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil grilled border czar Tom Homan about the behavior of immigration officers conducting raids across the U.S.

On Wednesday, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good in Minneapolis. Good was driving with her wife and reportedly stopped to film agents on the street. Video taken from the incident shows agents approaching the vehicle, which begins to turn away from the agents, one of whom fired multiple shots into the vehicle. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem quickly blamed Good for the incident and accused the deceased of engaging in “domestic terrorism.”

On Wednesday’s CBS Evening News, Dokoupil asked Homan about the shooting, and the border czar broke with Noem by declining to offer an assessment. “Let the investigation play out,” Homan said.

Dokoupil responded by asking Homan about ICE agents using “excessive force.” Homan’s replies prompted the anchor to say the responses were “not believable”:

DOKOUPIL: These videos that four months and months have been going around that people watch and they share, and they say, “Look at this case of excessive force.” Again, I’m not going to litigate any particular incident or ask you in detail about it. But I’m curious, you’ve seen these videos. I’m sure you’ve seen more than is even public. Have you seen any examples of clear, excessive force displayed by ICE agents and officers in the field?

HOMAN: No.

DOKOUPIL: During the whole administration?

HOMAN: Things that I’ve seen?

DOKOUPIL: Yeah.

HOMAN: No. And when I hear or see a story that an allegation is made, I follow up, make sure it’s being fully investigated. But I haven’t seen one ICE officer found guilty of anything inappropriate. Look, again, I’m not involved in every arrest. W’re making thousands of arrests a day. Over 2,000 a day on average. I can’t be aware of every ICE arrest. I trust the men and women of ICE and Border Patrol are well-trained. They get Fourth Amendment training every six months. I’m putting my faith in them that they do the right thing every day out there. And if they don’t, they’ll be held accountable.

DOKOUPIL: I want to ask you kind of a bald question here. I mean, just a straight-up question. You’re telling me you’ve never seen, in your tenure, any example of excessive force? You’re telling me you’ve not heard any comment from any member of this administration that is inflammatory or racist or in any way demeaning toward the immigrant community? That’s what you’re telling me? I know, because I talked to people out there all over the country, a lot of Americans are going to hear that, and they are going to be yelling at their television. They are going to be saying, “The idea that there is zero, there is nothing there there,” you are calling them crazy.

HOMAN: I’m not calling anybody crazy. I’m telling you what I know, what I’ve seen, and I told you, there over 2,000 arrests a day–

DOKOUPIL: But it just comes down to zero issue, zero problems, zero comments. It’s just not believable to a lot of people, including myself. There’s nothing that you have ICE do differently in any of these cases? We’ve seen all of these videos. Nothing?

HOMAN: I have not seen ICE act outside of policy. And if they are acting outside of policy, I’m not aware of it, There will be an investigation and we’d hold them accountable.

Watch above via CBS News.