President Donald Trump's border czar Tom Homan speaks to reporters in New York on April 22, 2025 (Image: Shutterstock)
A government watchdog group filed a lawsuit against the FBI, trying to get access to the tapes of the sting operation to catch a top official in Donald Trump's administration in a bribery scheme.
Tom Homan, the executive associate director for Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), was caught by special agents in Texas soliciting bribes for a government contract contingent on whether Trump won the 2024 election.
The undercover operation had agents posing as business executives trying to influence government contracts. Homan accepted $50,000 in cash and indicated he would help them get the contract, according to the report.
The Democracy Defenders Fund is suing the FBI for the tapes and any other files around the investigation, The Hill reported.
Homan, who Trump likes to refer to as his "border czar," was recorded accepting the cash from undercover FBI agents, though they had promised Homan $1 million. The recorded meeting involved Homan appearing to agree to help the undercover agents secure lucrative immigration-related contracts. The cash was delivered in a bag from the restaurant chain Cava.
“These documents contain vital information that the American public needs to have in order to assess both Mr. Homan’s potentially corrupt actions as well as the Department of Justice and FBI’s potentially politically motivated decision to drop the investigation into Mr. Homan, one of the Trump Administration’s appointees,” the group said in the lawsuit.
“Despite the officials’ belief in the strength of their case, after President Trump took office, the FBI absurdly decided to drop the investigation,” the suit continued.
It goes on to argue that “the strong public interest outweighs any privacy interest in the documents,” as it involves an existing official and potential government corruption.
Homan's former ICE colleague, Julian “Jace” Calderas, reportedly accepted $10,000 from the undercover FBI agents.
It led to a full Justice Department investigation, which was quashed once Trump took office and buried the probe.
The Trump White House, the FBI, and the DOJ all claimed that the sting was politically motivated. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt went further, calling it outright entrapment. They also denied that he accepted the bribe in a press statement.
Homan has been questioned multiple times about whether he accepted the cash and whether he ever returned it. He has refused to deny that he kept the money.
“Look, I did nothing criminal. I did nothing illegal,” Homan said, speaking to Fox's Laura Ingraham.
Meanwhile, lawmakers continue to demand answers.