Acting ICE Director Thomas Homan promised on Monday to “enforce the law without apology” after ten migrants died in a Texas smuggling case.

Charges were pressed Monday against the driver of a tractor-trailer who smuggled dozens of migrants into San Antonio in the back of his truck. Ten of the migrants died after having no access to water or air conditioning in the truck as temperatures outside reached the hundreds.

“Illegal immigration is not a victimless crime,” Homan said of the case during an interview with Fox News’ Neil Cavuto. “These folks contract with criminal organizations — these organizations are the same organizations that smuggle drugs, they smuggle weapons, they smuggle people that want to do harm to this country.”

“Whether you’re victimized as an illegal alien coming up through the border or whether you’re a U.S. citizen being victimized…to those folks that want us to turn a blind eye to illegal immigration, this is an example of what happens,” he asserted.

Homan explained how immigrants make a “life or death” decision to come to the United States, and sanctuary cities and tepid enforcement of immigration laws can wrongly encourage immigrants to risk their lives to get across the border.

“The border patrol already has over 2500 saves–people that were in dire straits and could have died from their trip to the United States. They’ve had over 200 deaths,” he said. “That is why the message needs to be clear: we are going to enforce the laws in this country.”

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