Tom Homan, recently appointed as “border czar” by President Donald Trump on November 11, 2024, opened up about the emotional toll of his career in an interview released Thursday on “The Shawn Ryan Show.”

Homan, a former acting director of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), recounted two human trafficking cases that have left a lasting impact on him, shedding light on the harsh realities of border security and illegal immigration.

In the interview with podcaster Shawn Ryan, Homan became visibly emotional while describing a case involving a nine-year-old girl who was part of a small group targeted by a criminal cartel.

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“The thing that really, really affected me was two things: Number one, talking to a little girl about nine years old that was part of a small group who was raped multiple times by members of the criminal cartel nine years old,” Homan told Ryan.

He continued, “Yeah, and let me tell you something as tough as guy you want to be when, when you sit down, get on your knees, you talk to this little girl and everything innocent, pure, even has been ripped from her, where you can tell that she has no faith in humanity.”

Homan added, “I mean, this little girl’s world was destroyed. She’s never gonna be the same.”

Homan also shared a second case from 2003 that deeply affected him, which occurred while he was giving a speech in Dallas.

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He received a phone call summoning him to Victoria, Texas, where a tragic scene unfolded.

“When I got there, the sheriff, and I think it was a Texas Ranger walking through the crime scene. ‘Okay, so, okay, it’s yours.’ So I remember walking up to there’s a tractor trailer, there was 19 people baked to death in back of that tractor trailer,” Homan said.

He arrived at the scene still in his suit, having flown directly from Dallas.

Describing the horrific sight, Homan recalled, “Right away, I see several bodies on the ground, because when those doors finally opened up, the people are such a rush to get air that they knocked some dead bodies out of the truck onto the ground. So I know some dead bodies [are] on the ground there.”

He continued, “Then I got to the back of tractor trailer, and I looked in the back of tractor trailer, I just see dead people, most of them in their underwear because they were trying to get some relief from the searing heat, and right away. I keyed on a little boy, and he was partially covered up by who later found out was his father, who was protecting him.”

Homan grew emotional as he noted a personal connection to the child.

“I keyed in on him, and he was wearing the same color underwear that my little boy had, same underwear. And I had a five-year-old son at the time, so right away, I keyed in on him. I, I, sorry,” he said, pausing to compose himself.

He explained that he took over the investigation and instructed the team to process the boy’s body last, saying, “I told them that we would, we would do the boy last, and mainly because I couldn’t handle it at the time.”

Homan also addressed criticisms of Trump’s border security policies, which he has defended in multiple media appearances.

He shared his frustration with some members of Congress who questioned his compassion.

“So we process the crime scene, and I testified to this. I got angry during testimony where someone claimed I didn’t care about dying children. He should have wore my shoes. I’ve seen a lot of dying children, dead children in my career,” Homan said.

He added, “So when we got to the child, I knelt down beside him, I put my hand on him and I said a prayer, because I knew, based on the years I’ve done alien smuggling investigations, what a horrible, horrible death this child went through. He baked to death.”

Homan’s experiences highlight the challenges faced by those enforcing border security and the human cost of illegal immigration, issues he continues to address in his new role as border czar.

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