Nigel Farage has said he wants to “hijack” Donald Trump’s hardline ICE adviser and bring him to the UK “to secure our borders”.
Speaking at an event in the US, the Reform UK leader also called for Europe to take a “more sensible view” of the US president’s administration rather than seeing it as “villainous”.
Farage complimented Tom Homan, Trump’s adviser on the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Speaking at the event where Homan was a guest, he said: “I’ve got terrible news for you. We’re hijacking Tom Homan and taking him back with us to secure our borders.”
Homan is Trump’s key adviser on ICE, which is under scrutiny over its aggressive approach to immigration enforcement after a number of fatal shootings by its agents, including two people in July.
Salgado Araujo and Durán Guerrero were the ۲۹th and ۳۰th people that immigration officers have opened fire on since Trump took office last year, according to The Trace, an outlet that tracks shootings in its gun violence data hub.
Homan has taken a more hands-on approach to immigration policy since Trump brought him in to “de‑escalate” tensions in Minneapolis, which was the scene of a brutal immigration crackdown in January.
In Trump’s first term, he helped to design some of the administration’s most draconian measures – most notably family separation, a strategy reportedly deemed too severe by officials in the Obama White House, but which later became central to Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy.
Reform UK has committed to a more hardline immigration policy than proposed by other mainstream parties, promising mass deportations of people who have entered the country illegally and deployment of the Royal Navy to intercept small boats in the Channel.
The party did not respond to a request for comment on whether it would seek to emulate Trump’s style of immigration enforcement under ICE which has been criticised for its brutality.
Farage interviewed Homan for his GB News show last year, describing him as uncompromising and saying he had achieved remarkable results on deportations, while acknowledging there had been “some backlash”.
On Trump in general, Farage said at the event that it was “important that our country, and Europe too, get a better, more sensible view of America than it gets of the Trump administration through traditional mainstream media who frankly paint the whole project out to be villainous”.
Farage’s positive remarks towards Trump and his administration come after the Reform UK leader appeared to distance himself from the president, saying in April they had not spoken for many months and questioning his judgment on the Iran war.
His latest trip to the US comes at a time when relations between the White House and Downing Street are under strain over Iran and policy towards Israel since Andy Burnham took over from Keir Starmer.
Burnham will have his first meeting with Trump in New York next week, with the US president having previously described him as “extremely liberal” but also having praised him for potentially opening up the North Sea to further drilling.
Farage did, however, depart from Trump’s views again earlier this week after the US president said he would love to see a united Ireland.
“Northern Ireland is a proud and integral part of the United Kingdom,” Farage said. “The people of Northern Ireland neither want a referendum nor unification.”
