SACKETS HARBOR, N.Y. — In an interview with WWNY, Trump “border czar” Tom Homan– a North Country native and Sackets Harbor neighbor– says “they can rally and protest all they want, but I’m not gonna be bullied– I’m not gonna be intimidated. We’re gonna do our job.”

Homan was responding to a question about an upcoming protest action, organized in response to the detention of a Jefferson County mother and her children. Homan says the family were taken into custody as potential witnesses to, or victims of, a suspect sought after by Customs and Border Protection.

According to a criminal complaint filed in the Northern District of New York by a CBP officer, a man living in Sackets Harbor shared child sexual assault material with an undercover Homeland Security agent, who had previously identified themselves as a 13-year-old girl (the agent sent AI-generated images to mask their identity). The messages were traced to their source, and on or around March 25, 2025, Judge Miroslav Lovric issued search warrants for the suspect’s person, property, and devices.

The complaint says the search was executed on March 27, alongside agents from Homeland Security’s Syracuse office. Afterward, the suspect was brought to a New York Police barracks, where he was read his Miranda rights and taken into custody. The complaint makes no mention of the dairy farm where the family were allegedly found, nor does it mention any other homes or properties being included in the authorized search.

CBP told North Country Public Radio that the mother, her children, and up to 4 others (reports differ about the exact number) were “encountered” in the midst of their other investigation. CBP confirmed that the family and others had been removed from the state and were awaiting deportation (in his interview with WWNY, Homan says they’re being kept in an “open-air” facility). The New York Immigration Coalition believes they’re being held in Texas– despite their potential connection to a crime in New York, and their progress along the legal pathway to citizenship, which has been noted by Sackets Harbor community members.

Tom Homan says that “after we do the victim review,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement will make a determination about the “conditions of [the family’s] release.” This is unlikely to happen before April 5, when a protest march is scheduled to end in front of his Sackets Harbor home. He says the protesters “certainly have their 1st Amendment rights.”