Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, said he made an unannounced visit to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center and ate lunch alongside detainees after hearing complaints about the quality of food served.Speaking in an interview with Fox News, Homan said he wanted to see for himself if the meals were really bad at the facility. Homan said that he ate the same food as the detainees and was satisfied quickly.He said: “I made a surprise visit on Saturday to have lunch because I was told the food was bad. So I sat in the cafeteria with the detainees – and of course I had security with me to make sure there were no problems.”
“I had the same food, the same trays that they had because I looked at what they were eating when I was eating — the exact same thing.”Homan described what was served: “I ate spaghetti with meat sauce, I had green beans, charred beans, rolls and butter, a fruit drink, and I think it was cake for dessert but I didn’t eat dessert.”He added that the portion size was more than enough for him: “But… I’m not a small man.
I couldn’t finish it all.”Homan’s comments come amid long-standing complaints from detainees, Democrats and advocacy groups about food conditions inside ICE detention centers. Over the years, detainees have claimed that meals were inadequate, spoiled, or poorly prepared. Some claimed to have suffered from hunger, weight loss or illness while in detention. Recent complaints from facilities in several states have included allegations of food shortages, inedible meals and contaminated food.
Some detainees also reported the presence of worms in the food served in detention centres.Previous inspections by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General also identified concerns at some facilities, including expired and moldy food, spoiled meat, and unsafe food handling practices.During a visit to an ICE facility in California, Congressman Ro Khanna said detainees told him they received food containing rocks, and described poor living conditions and inadequate access to medical care. Khanna said he was “terrified” by the accounts he heard from detainees. Furthermore, social media users described the interview as propaganda and that detained immigrants could not actually eat what Homan described.
