The following is the transcript of the interview with Rep. Michael McCaul, Republican of Texas, that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Feb. 1, 2026.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We’re joined now by Texas Republican Congressman, Michael McCaul. Good to have you here.
REPRESENTATIVE MICHAEL MCCAUL: Thanks for having me.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So we’re in this partial government shutdown presently, but Speaker Johnson said on another network this morning, he expects it may end by Tuesday. Some of your Republican colleagues, though, have said that they have conditions for getting on board. Republicans have a one seat majority at this point. Is he- is he overconfident? He has your vote?
REP. MCCAUL: Well, he has my vote. I mean, we voted for this last time. The Democrats, most of them voted for this. For the Democrats to turn around and vote against it on Tuesday, just to shut down the federal government, makes no sense to me at all. I think the speaker- the trick is getting it through the Rules Committee, and I believe that the speaker would not do that if he didn’t have the votes.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, you know why we’re in this situation and why those Democrats are now objecting?
REP. MCCAUL: Right.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Because of what happened a week ago–
REP. MCCAUL: –Right–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –out in Minneapolis, when Alex Pretti this–
(CROSSTALK)
REP. MCCAUL: –But the DHS apportion is taken out of this. The DH apportion is taken out of that appropriation–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –Right, just now with two-week continuing resolution–
REP. MCCAUL: –To have reforms to DHS–
MARAGRET BRENNAN: –To have reforms. So let’s talk about that. Because the Trump administration has changed personnel. They put Tom Homan now out in Minneapolis. The borders czar. They took out of that position Greg Bovino, who had been running Border Patrol. The Justice Department has also said it’s opened a civil rights investigation into why federal agents shot Pretti. Secretary Noem now says the FBI is taking over the probe into what happened. Are your concerns about what happened in Minneapolis satisfied?
REP. MCCAUL: I’ve called for a full investigation. DOJ has opened that investigation. Civil rights division would have jurisdiction over this. Look, I mean, Bovino went in there with these roving patrols. He escalated the situation. He escalated the tension between the public and law enforcement. He put his agents in a position they should never have been put in. They have no training for crowd control. Their job is to go in and remove criminal aliens, violent felons from the United States, and get them out of here. And so, you know, Tom Homan is a consummate professional. He’s been doing this for a long time. I’ve known him for a long time. He’s going to go back to the core mission of ICE, and that’s targeted law enforcement operations, not roving the streets causing chaos.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But we haven’t heard him say, or the administration say, that they’re actually going to change tactics to do what you just said.
REP. MCCAUL: Well, I believe in his press conference, he did talk about de-escalation.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
REP. MCCAUL: He talked about going back to targeted, you know, law enforcement operations.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Does that mean ending warrantless arrests? Is that how you understand it?
REP. MCCAUL: Administrative warrants have been around for a long time–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –Yes–
REP. MCCAUL: –to sign by a immigration judge order of removal. To go in, tap around prisoners under ICE detainers. That will continue. The idea of an administrative order being- warrant being used to break into a home that has not been the practice of ICE. And I don’t think Mr. Homan is going to continue that.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we heard actually- you’re right. Warrantless home entries are unconstitutional. Fourth Amendment protects all people, regardless of citizenship, from unreasonable search and seizures. But, and we’ve seen the documentation from the Trump administration, their policy does allow for these so-called collateral arrests, where ICE officers carry out warrantless arrests of unauthorized immigrants who are not the targets, but people that who are encountered during an operation, and they might be trying to leave the scene. Should the premise there be changed? Is that too broad?
REP. MCCAUL: Look, the target is a target. The target’s the violent offender. You know, there, there are plenty of those to spend all our time and resources on. When they do arrest the target, if there are illegal aliens with the target, they are caught in the net, and because they’re in the country illegally, they are removed. And I don’t think that practice will change, but the roving patrols–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –Well they did change them because prior administrations interpreted flight risk as not potentially showing up for a court appointment. The Trump administration interpreted it as the guy might leave the scene, and they justified some of these warrantless arrests and encounters under that. Is that too broad? Because that’s part of this roving group that you’re talking about.
REP. MCCAUL: Correct and due process applies to all persons under the Constitution. It would apply to them as well. If they’re caught in the net, though, they have to be dealt with. Look, this is going in front of courts right now–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –And Democrats want to argue about this. They want changes.
REP. MCCAUL: Yeah, and the courts are throwing out a lot of these cases, actually, and you have violations with U.S. citizens being arrested unlawfully. So the American people support the deportation of criminal aliens, violent offenders. What they don’t support is excessive use of force, and I believe Bovino crossed the line. I think the president was correct in telling him to get out of there. I would advise–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –Does he still have a job?
REP. MCCAUL: Well, he’s going back to his prior station.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.
REP. MCCAUL: But I would advise the secretary and the president to involve Tom Homan, and he should have been there from day one–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –Why wasn’t he?
REP. MCCAUL: –and to utilize his expertise and his talent.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Why was he cut out by Secretary Noem?
REP. MCCAUL: I don’t know all the inner workings within DHS on that. I can tell you though he is the consummate professional when it comes to ICE removal operations.
MARGARET BRENNAN: A federal judge in Texas has ordered that this five-year-old boy, Liam Ramos, be released, along with his father, from ICE custody. He had been detained by federal agents out in Minneapolis. His picture went viral. The judge who ordered the release specifically referenced concern about traumatizing children. He is not the only kid being detained under current policies, and with this particular case, the administration claimed something that was not backed up in court, right? They claimed the father was trying to flee and that he was here illegally. He was here under a policy honored by the last administration. They used an app on a phone to claim asylum. That was a legal process. So now they’re out of this detention facility. But, but doesn’t that raise to you concern that there are children who are getting caught in the crosshairs? That there does need to be, perhaps from Congress, some guardrails here being put on Homeland Security and what they’re doing?
REP. MCCAUL: I think that is part of the reform process we’ll be looking at. I think there are–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –But you have to force it, or do you trust DHS to do it?
REP. MCCAUL: I- we can, we can pass the laws. I think the problem is situations like these give a black eye to- actually law enforcement officers are just trying to do their jobs. And, look, the mission, I think, is to get violent felons out of the country. Most people support that. It’s a president- the number one issue the president won the election on. What I worry about is turning a winning issue into a liability. I still believe the American people want us to remove dangerous, violent criminals from the streets, but they don’t want to see these images of children and people being dragged out of their cars and U.S. citizens. Those excessive use of forces cases need to stop. And I think Tom Homan will de-escalate the situation, as I’ve been calling for for weeks.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Congressman McCaul, thank you for your time today.
REP. MCCAUL: Thanks for having me.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We’ll be right back with a lot more Face the Nation.