Trump's former ICE director says he showed up at a white nationalist conference by mistake

Eight miles away from the hotel where the Conservative Political Actions Conference (CPAC) was happening in Orlando, Florida, was another kind of conservative party conference, a white nationalist one called American First Political Action Conference (AFPC).

The close proximity and name of the two conferences could be easy to mess up, and that's exactly what former Trump ICE director, Thomas Homan said to the Huff Post when asked why he was scheduled to appear there.

"So many names of conservative groups sound the same,” Homan told the Huff Post. The former ICE director explained that the entire situation was a mix-up partly due to a lack of research on Homan's part.

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The AFPAC is an annual white supremacist political conference founded by 23-year-old white supremacist leader, Nick Fuentes.

Among the things Fuentes is known for are: spreading Covid-19 misinformation, denying the Holocaust happened, advocating for anti-immigration, advocating for anti-women's rights, advocating for anti-LGBTQ rights, praising the Taliban, and most recently, praising Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

Homan was marketed as a "mystery speaker" by Fuentes. But before the conference began, Homan decided to do a quick Google search of Fuentes' name and found the 23-year-old had caused quite the stir on social media.

It wasn't until Homan saw Fuentes' praise of Putin that he thought AFPAC could be the wrong type of conference for him. Homan told the Huff Post he had no idea why this group of people would like to hear from him, “I’m not saying this is a bad group. I’m saying I don’t know.”

Homan's legacy as ICE director includes his controversial anti-immigration policies. Notably, Homan defended ICE agents' aggressive actions by saying they were 'enforcing the law'.

According to the Huff Post, Fuentes apologized to the conference room of fellow white supremacists that his first choice in mystery speakers would no longer be able to make it.

Lucky for Fuentes another far-right political figure was able to make it- Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor-Green.

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