Donald Trump announced this Monday (11) that he will bring the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Tom Homan,
In a publication on the Truth Social network, the president-elect stated that Tom Homan will act as the “border czar”. According to Trump, he will be responsible for the borders with Mexico and Canada, as well as air and maritime security.
“I have known Tom for a long time and there is no one better to police and control our borders,” the Republican wrote. “Likewise, Tom Homan will be responsible for all deportations of illegal aliens back to their home country. Congratulations to Tom. I have no doubt he will do a fantastic and long overdue job.”
The former acting director of the Immigration Service contributed to Project 2025, the broad conservative blueprint for the next Republican president that Trump distanced himself from during his campaign.
In a recent interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes,” Homan argued that “families could be deported together” when asked about Trump’s promise to carry out mass deportations immediately after taking office.
He also argued that this effort would be targeted, although exact plans for how it would be carried out – and how much it would cost – are not yet known. “It will not be a mass sweep of neighborhoods. We are not going to build concentration camps,” Homan told CBS.
In a sign of his influence in Trump’s orbit, Homan spoke at the Republican National Convention in July.
“I have a message for the millions of illegal aliens that Joe Biden has released into our country in violation of federal law: You better start packing your bags now,” Homan said on stage in Milwaukee. “That’s right.”
A career police officer, Homan was the symbol of the first Trump administration’s efforts to , before retiring in 2018. He served temporarily in the role since the beginning of the Trump administration, despite never being confirmed by the Senate.
Homan frequently took to the microphone – including in speeches at the White House – to defend his agents’ arrests of illegal immigrants, to call for more robust enforcement and to attack “sanctuary city” policies. The term refers to cities that limit or refuse to cooperate with the federal government on immigration laws.
On one occasion, he told Congress that illegal immigrants “should be afraid.”
Homan also oversaw an immigration system that placed a record number of immigrant children into U.S. custody. In September 2017, Homan said at a public event that his agency would arrest undocumented people who came forward to care for children, something previous administrations avoided.
“They cannot hide in the shadows,” Homan said at a border security event in Washington, adding that parents should stand “shoulder to shoulder” with their children in court. “We’re going to put the parents through proceedings, immigration proceedings at the very least. …Is this cruel? I don’t think so.”
*With information from Reuters
