Border Czar Tom Homan has set his sights on the governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, after Murphy suggested that he might be harboring an illegal immigrant in his home, which led Homan to threaten to arrest Governor Murphy and call him “foolish,” adding that he was determined to get to the bottom of the situation.
For context, Gov. Murphy created a firestorm when he reportedly said that he was housing an undocumented immigrant above his garage, going on to invite members of the Trump Administration to “come and get her,” according to press accounts from February 3, 2025. In response, Tom Homan appeared on Fox News that night and said that he would arrest Gov. Murphy if Murphy’s bizarre statements turned out to be grounded in reality.
Gov. Murphy’s initial statements were made in an interview with the progressive advocacy group Blue Wave New Jersey and were shared on social media. During the live-streamed interview, Gov. Murphy referred to a discussion he had had with his wife, Tammy Murphy, saying, “Tammy and I were talking about — I don’t want to get into too much detail, but there’s someone in our broader universe whose immigration status is not yet at the point they are trying to get it to.” He added, “And we said: You know what? Let’s have her live above our house, above our garage. And good luck to the feds coming in to try to get her.”
After Gov. Murphy made these comments, Tom Homan responded in an interview with Sean Hannity, saying, “I think the governor’s pretty foolish saying what he said.” He added, “I got a note of it. I won’t let it go. We’ll look into it. If he’s knowingly harboring and concealing an illegal alien…I will seek prosecution.” In addition, Homan emphasized that Murphy was violating U.S. code if he was “knowingly harboring, concealing an illegal alien.”
Along with Homan, many conservative commentators expressed their outrage at Gov. Murphy after he made his comments, with Adam Coleman writing on X, “As a New Jersey resident, if there is one reason to have Phil Murphy removed from office, it’s him knowingly harboring an illegal alien.” Coleman added, “He’s a public official who is daring the federal government. This should be disqualifying as a governor.”
However, according to coverage from NJ Magazine, an anonymous source close to Gov. Murphy attempted to clarify what the governor was trying to say. The source asserted that Murphy was referring to “someone in his circle of friends who was concerned given all that’s going on,” clarifying that that person has “legal status.”
In addition, Gov. Murphy himself attempted to qualify his statements, telling the press, “I didn’t suggest that, with all due respect.” He added, “People who have complete clean status, including American citizens, are wigged out right now, and that was — I probably could have said it better — but that’s the point that I’m making. That’s the bigger point.”
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Continuing, Gov. Murphy attempted to prove his innocence, saying, “We never have and never will violate any immigration laws in the United States.” He added, “That’s never gonna happen, I promise you that. Nobody ever came to my house. Nobody was ever coming to my house.”
Watch Homan’s response:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video