White House border czar Tom Homan on Wednesday blamed the Biden administration for the migrant caravans once again forming in southern Mexico, calling the renewed northward march "the Biden effect" — and warning that no election result will pry open the southern border on President Donald Trump's watch.
"We call it the Biden effect," Homan said during an appearance on Fox News' America Reports, according to a post from the network's official X account. Homan made clear that a shift in congressional control will not stop the Trump administration's enforcement efforts. "The same laws," he added, referencing the statutes that remain on the books regardless of which party holds the gavel.
The border czar's remarks came after a caravan of roughly 1,500 people — including families with young children — left Tapachula near Mexico's border with Guatemala on Tuesday and was walking north through Chiapas on Wednesday, according to a Reuters report citing a state government source. The group departed just days after Democrats notched midterm victories, and some migrants told Reuters they hoped the new congressional makeup would give them more ways to live and work legally in the United States.
Homan was having none of it. In comments flagged by the Rapid Response 47 account on X, he delivered a blunt message to anyone banking on a political shift in Washington: "Congress may be more blue… but the White House is red—bright red… These caravans can come to the border all they want. They're not going to be released into the United States."
"They're going to be turned around or prosecuted, then turned around because we will charge them with a crime so they can sit in jail, serve their sentence before they're deported."
Homan also called on Mexico to deploy troops along its northern and southern borders, as it did during Trump's first term. In 2019, Mexico sent 6,000 National Guard personnel to its southern border and surrounding areas under an agreement that headed off tariffs Trump had threatened to impose on Mexican imports.
Mexican authorities were already moving to stop migrants in Chiapas on Wednesday. AFP reported that local footage showed National Guard personnel, immigration officers, and state police blocking a road after migrants crossed the Suchiate River from Guatemala. According to AFP, around 40 migrants were detained after encountering the security cordon.
The numbers out of the Department of Homeland Security tell the story of what the Biden years wrought — and what the Trump administration has done since. DHS said in October that preliminary figures for fiscal year 2026 showed southwest border apprehensions were down 95 percent compared with the Biden administration. The department also said it was the first full fiscal year in which Border Patrol recorded zero releases.
Before the midterms, Vice President JD Vance warned that illegal border crossings could rise if Democrats won. He urged voters to back Republicans after sharing footage of migrants traveling through Mexico in October.
Homan's message to the caravan was simple: come if you want, but you will be disappointed.
"But we're not giving one inch on this border. This is the most secure border in history. We're going to keep it secure because we've got President Trump in the White House who's not going to let this border become chaotic again, and neither will I."
The border czar also noted that Mexico's own laws prohibit transiting the country without a transit visa — meaning the caravan members are breaking Mexican law as well, and it is Mexico's responsibility to step up and enforce it.
Our Take
Let's be clear about what's happening here. Migrants are forming caravans because they believe Democrats will reward them for showing up. They said so out loud to Reuters — they're hoping the midterms will give them "more ways to live and work legally." That's not speculation. That's the plan.
And it's exactly the incentive structure the Biden administration built for four years: catch and release, open borders, and a wink and a nod to anyone willing to make the trek. Homan is right to call it the Biden effect. The caravans didn't materialize out of thin air. They were invited by policy.
The good news is that the man in the White House now is Donald Trump, and the man running border enforcement is Tom Homan — a man who has forgotten more about securing the border than the entire Biden administration ever knew. The numbers prove it: 95 percent down from the Biden years, zero releases for a full fiscal year. That's what enforcement looks like.
But this is no time for complacency. Democrats will use every lever they have to obstruct deportations, defund enforcement, and sue to stop the wall. The caravan is a test. It's a test of whether the Trump administration will hold the line under political pressure. Homan has made clear he will. The question for every patriotic American is whether Congress will back him up — or get out of the way.
To the migrants in that caravan: you've been lied to by the open-borders crowd. You won't be released. You won't be rewarded. You'll be turned around or prosecuted. And to the rest of us: stay vigilant. Stay loud. The border is secure because We the People put a man in the White House who refuses to give one inch.
