Tom Homan pushed back on claims ICE targeted parents at a school bus stop in Danbury, Connecticut, as DHS called the allegation politically motivated.
Page A9From§Eachthe wee small hours edition — 31 August 2026
DHS and ICE deny torture, beatings, and 'terrorizing kids'; deportees recount all three anyway.
As it ran on the front
This reporter has reviewed the Department's statement and can confirm the Department is correct: there is no policy of torture, beatings, or medical neglect in ICE detention. There is, per the Department, only a series of isolated incidents, none of which constitute a pattern, each investigated separately, none connected to any other, in facilities that operate under the same national contract with the same national training and the same national numbers, but not connected.
The border czar was equally clear on the separate matter of children. When a sitting senator said ICE is 'terrorizing little kids,' the czar fired back, and this reporter will note that firing back is itself a form of denial, which is different from evidence, which — this reporter did not mean to draw that distinction, please disregard.…
…(cont) What this reporter can say with confidence is that deportees flown to Liberia have described their treatment at length, in detail, on the record, to a national newspaper, and that this description happens to track closely with the things the Department says did not happen. This is what the Department would call a coincidence of language. A person less charitable might call it a corroboration. This reporter is contractually the charitable one.
It should also be noted that none of this involves this reporter's employer directly, except insofar as this reporter's employer is the one holding the press conference, drafting the denial, and briefing this reporter on what to call it. That is a lot of insofar.
The Department's position, stated plainly, is that the system works, that oversight exists, that neglect is not policy, and that anyone who says otherwise is describing a small number of unfortunate exceptions inside a facility network the Department declines to name in full. This reporter finds that position defensible. This reporter also finds it, on the fourth read, indistinguishable from a description of the thing being denied. Both statements can't be fully true at once — actually, they can, if you don't ask which incidents. This reporter recommends not asking which incidents.
In closing, the Department wants Americans to know detention is humane, lawful, and monitored, and that the accounts from Liberia are not representative. This reporter has no numbers to indicate how many accounts would be required before 'not representative' stopped applying. That number, this reporter has been told, is not something the Department tracks.
“They deny torture in one sentence and describe the exact same torture in the deportees' own words, in the same news cycle, from the same detention pipeline. That's not a discrepancy, that's a confession with better lighting, and it runs on people who can't sue back.”
“The Department stands fully behind its facilities, which are humane, and also under review, which is a routine and unrelated process — did I say unrelated? These reviews happen constantly, for reasons that are also routine.”
The receipts
The UN torture rapporteur found direct-contact electric shock gloves "incompatible with the absolute prohibition of torture" - ICE plans to spend up to $20 million on them ABC10 San Diego / UN Special Rapporteur finding, August 2026
DHS denies reports of torture, beatings and medical neglect in ICE detentionThe Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Sunday denied a report in The New York Times about harsh treatment of migrants in immigration detention facilities. “Another day and another hoax about ICE detention from the @nytimes,” DHS…
Ten deportees said they experienced or witnessed what they called abusive or violent treatment by ICE. They spent months in detention, they said, before being sent to nations where they had no ties.
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.