Fox host Brian Kilmeade on Minnesota ICE operations: “I sense that Bovino and company were just scooping up people that I don't think the president was for”
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From the January 27, 2026, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends
BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): Meanwhile, on a different note, today, border czar Tom Homan will be in Minneapolis. His first order of business, he's gonna meet with Mayor Jacob Frey as President Trump looks to ease tensions between the state and the White House. The president spoke with both Frey and Governor Walz yesterday and posted about it. Fox News contributor Guy Benson joins us now. Guy, so much has changed in 24 hours. Tom Homan in, Bovino out to his original post, but they say not fired. What do you think?
GUY BENSON (FOX CONTRIBUTOR): Well, it seems like a demotion at the very least. And my guess is President Trump, and there were some sources whispering about this over the weekend, he was watching how everything went down in this terrible, deadly incident. The response, the statements that were made by high-ranking officials, and the backlash against the untruthfulness of some of those statements, or at least the debatable nature of what they were saying. And he said, you know, enough of this. This is, among other things, a political and PR battle, and a way to lose it is to not have credibility with the public.
And so he decided to send in Tom Homan, who's a very experienced guy. He understands the job through and through. He wants to take it very seriously and do it the right way. And I think that Trump, going out of his way to note that Homan hadn't been involved in Minneapolis or Minnesota, was sort of a blank slate moment to say, hey, this needs fresh eyes, fresh leadership, and by the way, he's reporting directly to me. That was a shakeup, and I think a needed one.
KILMEADE: Right. And I think it's leadership too. I'm gonna take action. Kristi Noem, focus on FEMA and other things. With Minneapolis, we're gonna put some fresh eyes in there that have credibility on both sides.
The other thing I think to point out too, Tom Homan's kinda iced out. You notice he wasn't on television for the last two, three weeks. His focus is gonna be on the worst of the worst, and I sense that Bovino and company were just scooping up some people that I don't think the president was for. I mean, it was about six weeks ago when the president was talking about finding a way for people that have been here 20, 30 years, or 15, 20 years, and finding them a way of have, maybe a long-term work visa with a sponsorship and that type of program. That didn't coalesce with what we were seeing.