Full transcript of Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan , Feb . 15 , 2026

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On this "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" broadcast, moderated by Ed O'Keefe: Tom Homan, Trump administration border czar House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New YorkRep. Robert Garcia, Democrat of California Sen. Thom Tillis, Republican of North CarolinaClick here to browse full transcripts from 2026 of "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan." ED O'KEEFE: I'm Ed O'Keefe in Washington.And this week on Face the Nation: Funding for the Department of Homeland Security is on hold. Negotiations over immigration enforcement are at a standstill.Two months into the new year, and part of the government is shut down yet again, as disputes over President Trump's deportation policy leave lawmakers unable to fund the Department of Homeland Security.Caught in limbo, TSA agents, the Coast Guard, FEMA employees, and thousands of others, many working without pay.We will ask White House border czar Tom Homan and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries where negotiations stand. Then: The fallout from the release of the Epstein files grows, as Attorney General Pam Bondi is grilled on Capitol Hill for her department's handling of the investigation. We will ask the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, California's Robert Garcia, what more he wants to see from the Justice Department, as lawmakers review unredacted files for the first time.And, finally, as world leaders gather at an annual security conference in Munich, we will hear all about that and about America's standing in the world with North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis.It's all just ahead on Face the Nation.Good morning, and welcome to Face the Nation. Margaret is off today. Washington is waking up to another funding standoff, and it's unclear at this point when it could end, as Congress is on recess for another week.So, for more on the debate over immigration enforcement tactics, we're joined by White House border czar Tom Homan.Mr. Homan, thank you so much for joining us.TOM HOMAN (White House Border Czar): Well, thanks for having me.ED O'KEEFE: I want to begin, of course, with negotiations over reopening the Department of Homeland Security.They center around some specific policy changes Democrats demand in how immigration agents conduct operations. Among other things, they'd like to require immigration agents to show identification, wear body cameras, take off their masks, stop racial profiling, and seek judicial warrants to enter private property.Which, if any of those asks, is the president, are you willing consider – or willing to consider adopting? TOM HOMAN: Well, I'm not a part of those negotiations. That's being – that's being done up on the Hill between the Senate and House and the White House. I'm not really part of those negotiations.But, look, you know, to – they – when they say stop racial profiling, that's just not occurring. I mean, ICE will detain, briefly detain and question somebody – question somebody based on reasonable suspicion. It has nothing to do with racial profiling.As far as the masks, look, you know, I don't like the masks either, but because threats against ICE officers, you know, are up over 1500 percent, actual assaults, and threats are up over 8000 percent, these men and women have to protect themselves.As far as identifying themselves, they all have placards identifying themselves as ICE, ERO, HSI, DEA, FBI.So they all have placards on them. So I will let the White House and members of Congress, you know, fight that out. But I think some of the asks are just – I think they're unreasonable, because there is no racial profiling.There is identifying marks. But masks, you know, why don't they talk about maybe passing legislation to make it illegal to dox agents or something like that?ED O'KEEFE: Well…TOM HOMAN: But the masks right now are for officer safety reasons. ED O'KEEFE: There are federal laws, of course, against injuring, harming, threatening federal authorities, so there is that.And I think one of the things that people get hung up on is the idea that the cop on the street in their neighborhood, a state police officer, other federal agents will identify themselves with their name on their lapel, and, yes, their employing agency.But why should these immigration agents be any different when it comes to the masks as well? You know, cops go out every day, everywhere across the country, get threatened in one way or another.TOM HOMAN: I don't know – I don't know…(CROSSTALK)ED O'KEEFE: But why – why have to wear all that and protect themselves, when there are others out there wearing badges that don't have to do that?TOM HOMAN: Well, again, they are wearing badges. They're wearing placards to identify what agency they're from… ED O'KEEFE: But their name isn't on it, right?TOM HOMAN: But when it comes to masks, I don't – I – I don't know of another law enforcement agency in the country that has an 8000 percent increase in threats.Just yesterday, the director of ICE, his wife was filmed walking to work. His home address has been doxxed. His kids have been doxxed and filmed. So, no, I don't know of another agency in this country that has an 8000 percent increase.And then, look, let's remember why we're here, Ed. We're here because, the last four years, over 10 million illegal aliens crossed that border, released in this country unvetted. ICE has to do a law enforcement response to deal with the last four years of open border, where they claim the border was secure every day. And it wasn't.ED O'KEEFE: What's so wrong about obtaining a judicial warrant to enter private property?TOM HOMAN: That's not what the federal law requires.Congress themselves wrote the Immigration Nationality Act that gave power on the administrative warrant to arrest somebody. And that's what's set up in federal statutes. So if Congress wants that changed, then Congress can legislate. But, right now, ICE is acting within the framework of federal statutes enacted by Congress and signed by a president.ED O'KEEFE: Well, as I recall, you have previously said that you thought judicial warrants were necessary for searches.There's been this change in policy, in that now ICE can go with these administrative warrants that are issued by ICE personnel. Why your change of heart? I mean, clearly, there – at one point, at least, you agreed that was necessary.TOM HOMAN: I – I – no, I don't have a changed heart. What I understand, and I wasn't part of those discussions, is that DOJ interpreted that law saying in certain – in certain circumstances, administrative warrant on somebody has a final order removal, already had a due process issued by a federal judge, they can enter a premises.I'm not a part of that discussion, but that's the DOJ guidance.ED O'KEEFE: Last week, you announced the monthslong operation known as Metro Surge in Minnesota is winding down. ICE, of course, is going to maintain a presence in the state, but not at the levels we've seen in recent weeks. If things keep winding down, when should that surge be over?TOM HOMAN: Well, look, about as of – we already removed well over 1,000 people. And as of Monday, Tuesday, we'll remove several hundred more. We'll get back to the original footprint, with the exception of the agents there to do the fraud investigation will stay there and continue their work until they're done.The agents investigating the church issue, where the people went into the church, they'll stay and get that work done. But there will be – there will be a small force, a security force, what we call RFQs, that will – our security forces, that will respond to – when our agents are out and they get surrounded by agitators and things get out of control.And they'll remain for a short period of time, just to make sure the coordination, the agreements we have with local state law enforcement stay in place and they respond to a public safety threat when needed. And so hopefully those security forces – security – a small footprint of security forces can remove – can be removed really fairly quickly, I'm hoping.ED O'KEEFE: OK. Sure.TOM HOMAN: I think things are going the right direction, and I got faith they'll continue that way.ED O'KEEFE: This was the largest deployment of federal immigration agents in department history. Do you anticipate there will be others on the scale seen in Minneapolis?TOM HOMAN: I think it depends on the situation. I have said from day one that, you know, we need to – we need to flood the zone in sanctuary cities with additional agents. The number of agents depend on the situation on the ground, how many known criminal targets are out there, because we know we have a problem with sanctuary cities, because we know they're releasing public safety threats in the public.So, rather than arrest that one criminal in jail, one agent arresting one criminal alien in the safety and security of a jail, which is safer for the agent, safer for the alien, safer for the community, they release them in the street. Now we got to send a whole team or six or seven people.That is a win we had in Minnesota, everybody. Because now we have agreements and coordination with jails, we can arrest that public safety threat in the safety and security of a jail, which means we don't have to send six or seven people out to look for them.So, I'm hoping other sanctuary cities look at what was – what happened in Minnesota and how we – how we got to the place we're at, which I think is a good place. I hope more people pay attention to that, and we work with these states to let our officers in the jail.You can't – a lot of politicians are out there on the left or the Democrats saying, OK, ICE – we agree. You should be focusing on public safety threats. You should be focusing on illegal aliens who have committed serious crimes in this country.ED O'KEEFE: Yes.TOM HOMAN: But they lock us out of the jail. You can't square that. If you really want us to focus on the criminals, then let us in the jail. That's the safest, most secure place to do