'Not based on color': Tom Homan debunks media claims about white South African refugees with Glenn Beck

The director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement flatly denied the idea that refugees from South Africa were being welcomed to the United States because of their race.

Director Tom Homan spoke to BlazeTV host Glenn Beck on Wednesday, the same day that President Donald Trump welcomed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to the White House.

'There's no color to refugees.'

Trump pressed the South African leader about the mistreatment, and sometimes murder, of white Afrikaner farmers in his country. Trump even showed Ramaphosa a horrifying video that featured gravesites and a stadium full of South Africans singing about shooting white people.

Beck asked Homan if he had any comment about the "debacle" in the media where left-wing outlets criticized the Trump administration's decision to bring 59 white South Africans to the U.S.

"There's no color to refugees," Homan plainly stated. "We don't base refugee status on color. We base it on the law. ... It's not based on color. I know, I read a lot of media stories, and a lot of the media is basically, you know, 'because they're white.' Refugee status isn't based on color."

RELATED: Tom Homan to Glenn Beck: Tim Walz 'disgusting' for comparing ICE to 'Gestapo' — Eric Swalwell not 'above the law'

Homan added that refugee status in relation to race is "not the way the law is written" and assured Beck, "That's not the way we're doing things."

When it came to illegal immigration, Beck and Homan also discussed the CBP Home app, a program designed to help illegal immigrants self-deport back to their home country.

"It's been good," Homan explained. "I mean, several thousand signed up. We just did our first flight where we hosted that flight and sent them home."

Homan was likely referring to a flight of 65 illegal immigrants who accepted a free plane ticket to their home country on the condition they would receive $1,000 upon landing.

The director revealed that there had been around 4,500 additional sign-ups, and when a group of illegal migrants at a detention center had been presented with the option recently, about 50% of them volunteered.

"'You want to go home? We'll make arrangements. Go home, and you get $1,000 for going.' And just about half of the population raised their hands," Homan said.

RELATED: 'Self-deport' flights begin as some illegal migrants take advantage of Trump's tempting offer: Report

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Homan's conversation with Beck also included responses to politicians like Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D), both of whom made strong statements about the Trump administration and Homan's department.

Walz had referred to ICE agents as a "modern-day Gestapo" that is "scooping folks up off the streets," while Swalwell had claimed that the Trump administration had been prosecuting its political enemies.

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