'Children were dying on that border every day': Border Czar Tom Homan explains Trump's zero-tolerance border policy

Border Czar Tom Homan from the Trump administration appeared on Stephen A. Smith's podcast, explaining the zero-tolerance policy at the border, which led to family separations during Trump's first administration. He said that the policy was designed to stop the rape of women as well as the deaths of children at the border. 

Smith asked about 4,000 children getting separated from their parents, to which Homan said, "So where does zero tolerance come from? Zero tolerance came from this: 31 percent of women that make that journey get raped by the criminal cartels. Children were dying on that border every day, dying either down in a river, dying making that journey. Children were sexually assaulted. The children were dying in the desert."

"You know, they made that journey. And lot of women and children not only died, many were sexually assaulted. So we said, ‘Look, how can we save lives? How can we stop the sexual assault of children.’ So we said, ‘Look, let's prosecute them, because it's a crime to enter this country illegally. So if we prosecute them and put them in jail, maybe the numbers go down, maybe less will come.’ And it worked," Homan added. 

Homan then spoke about the common practice of separating children from their parents when he was a police officer in New York City, where he said that when adults commit crimes and are put in prison, they will be separated from their families.

"It's an unfortunate and the saddest part of law enforcement, families get separated when the parents get arrested," he added.

He reiterated that the purpose of the policy was to "save lives," but that with the policies under the Biden administration, the policy was akin to, "We'll get them to the final destination, and government expense and reward the people who pay the criminal cartels bring them in.”

"That's why the numbers exploded," Homan said, referring to the record illegal immigration numbers under Biden. "Because there's no consequence. We had a consequence they didn't."