Following the first wave of deportations under the Trump administration last week, newly-appointed border czar Tom Homan spoke to the administration’s strategy, saying “if you’re in the country illegally, you’re on the table.”

Homan addressed the Trump administration’s over 500 deportations on their first day in office in an ABC News segment released Sunday and defended a controversial policy change to allow ICE agents to raid “sensitive locations,” including schools, hospitals and churches.

The border czar said federal agents are currently concentrating on “national security threats and public safety threats” as the first priority, but the country can expect to see the number of deportations “steadily increase” as the “aperture” opens to include everyone in the country illegally.

“The message needs to be clear that there’s consequences to entering the country illegally,” said Homan, asked if agents would enter schools to arrest adults or kids outside of public safety or national security threats. “If we don’t show those consequences, you’re never going to fix the border problem.”

Responding on the policy, Homan said “no other agencies” are restricted from sensitive sites like ICE and argued there are safety threats in schools, noting “many MS-13 (gang) members are age 14 to 17.”

However, Homan said ICE agents may also arrest people in schools who are not suspected of being a threat “on a case by case basis, depending who they are and what the circumstances are.”

In Boston, school district leadership addressed on the new ICE policy directly at last week’s School Committee meeting, saying BPS will “do everything in the district’s lawful power to protect students and families constitutional and legal rights.” School officials did not go into specifics of what may happen if ICE agents raid schools.

“Our number one priority is to ensure that all BPS students, regardless of actual or perceived immigration status, are safe and accepted in our school communities,” said BPS Superintendent Mary Skipper. “In these uncertain times, we will continue to adhere to our core principles and safeguard students’ rights.”

Skipper noted BPS has a constitutional obligation to “provide every student a free and uninterrupted, quality public school education.”

The superintendent said the district is providing support to schools regarding their federal and state legal obligations to students, as well as district policies, and directed families with concerns to reach out by calling the BPS helpline or emailing helpline@bostonpublicschools.org.

Statewide in the Commonwealth, the Massachusetts Teachers Association “condemn(ed) in the strongest possible terms President Trump’s directive” and said it “shatters the trust that families place in our educators and our public schools as safe havens” on Wednesday.

The MTA noted the state union will “fight against this policy with every tool at our disposal.”

Speaking on the deportations, Homan said the agency arrested convicted or previously arrested criminals, as well as any “collateral” migrants in the country illegally they were found with. As the agency expands arrests, the border czar said they will need more money from Congress to deport an estimated 11 million people.

“I think Congress and the President has a mandate,” said Homan. “This is number one issue that people vote on. And I think Congress has a mandate to give us money we need.”

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