Immigration enforcement veteran Tom Homan has been tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as ‘border czar’ in his second term – one of the incoming administration’s most crucial roles.
The 62-year-old Homan, known as a no-nonsense border hawk, is expected to help lead a total overhaul of both the policies implemented by President Joe Biden over the last four years and restoration of the Trump policies the Democratic administration dismantled.
At the core of his new job will be implementing Trump’s vow to undertake mass deportations of illegal immigrants who flooded into the U.S under the Biden administration.
That plan is the brainchild of Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who the president-elect is reportedly bringing back to serve as his deputy chief of staff for policy zeroing in on the unprecedented border crackdown.
Homan served as Trump’s Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for the first year-and-a-half of his administration that began in January 2017.
Trump went on to nominate Homan to become ICE Director on Nov. 14, 2017, a post that requires Senate confirmation. But in April 2018, the acting chief announced he would step-down from his post in June of the same year.
Just days after winning the 2024 presidential election, Trump announced on Sunday that Homan would succeed Vice President Kamala Harris as ‘border czar.’
Former Acting ICE Director Tom Homan (right) was announced Sunday as the new ‘border czar’ for Donald Trump’s second administration
The border czar role, which was implemented by Biden when he named his vice president to the post, does not require Senate confirmation and would make Homan part of the White House staff rather than a cabinet member.
He would not have any legal authority over the federal agencies involved in border and immigration policies.
So who is the man that will lead White House border policy?
Early life and career
Homan is from northern New York State where he earned his degree in Criminal Justice.
He was a police officer in his hometown of West Carthage, New York for a few years before joining in 1984 what was then called the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which eventually was renamed the United States Border Patrol.
Homan spent three decades on the force as a Border Patrol agent and was also an investigator and supervisor for the agency over the years.
In 2013, he was appointed by President Barack Obama to the Executive Associate Director of ICE.
Homan worked for decades starting in 1984 in different positions with the Border Patrol – including as an agent, investigator and supervisor
A year later, Homan was a large proponent of implementing policies that were widely criticized for separating migrant parents from their children when they illegally crossed the southern border.
‘Most parents don’t want to be separated,’ he said during an interview at the time. ‘I’d be lying to you if I didn’t think that would have an effect.’
Obama gave Homan the Presidential Rank Award as a Distinguished Executive in 2015
In an April 2016 article, the Washington Post wrote: ‘Thomas Homan deports people. And he’s really good at it.
Activity in Trump’s first administration
About a week after Trump first took office in January 2017, Trump demoted acting ICE director Daniel Ragsdale to deputy director and appointed Homan as acting director.
With Trump at the helm and Homan leading ICE, the acting director said at the time that undocumented immigrants ‘should be afraid.’
Homan announced in May 2017 that ICE had arrested 41,319 illegal immigrants between Trump’s inauguration and the end of April, which was a 38 percent increase compared to the same time period the year before under Obama.
In April, Homan advised Trump’s Homeland Security Secretary Kierstjen Nielsen to implement a ‘zero tolerance’ policy on immigration, which would prosecute parents and continue separation of those adults who brought minors into the U.S. illegally from other countries.
Trump nominated Homan to be ICE Director in order to drop ‘acting’ from his position. He was not confirmed by the Senate before announcing six months later his intention to retire by June 2018.
Just before vacating his position, Homan defended the separation policy.
Homan speaks with Border Patrol agents along the southern border wall in San Ysidro, California on May 7, 2018
Homan is credited with implementing the ‘zero tolerance’ policies that resulted in the separation of parents from their children when they illegally crossed the southern border
Homan has received widespread criticsm from Democrats and progressive who say his approach to the southern border is ‘inhumane’
Democratic ‘Squad’ criticism
Much of the backlash over Homan’s policies stemmed from the fact that illegal immigrant parents were kept separate from the children they illegally brought over the southern border.
And the biggest criticism came after the 2018 midterm elections when the so-called congressional ‘Squad’ of far-left progressive lawmakers took office.
Squad member Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) said during a 2019 hearing with Homan: ‘As a fellow American I just want you to know your contribution as Acting Director of ICE under this administration will always be remembered as one that was very ruthless and an inhumane treatment of asylum seekers.
‘I’m deeply troubled by your opening statement and continued assault on innocent lives,’ she said while bashing him for authoring the child separation policy.
Fellow Squad member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) also attacked Homan during the House Oversight Committee hearing after Democrats took control of the lower chamber.
‘Zero tolerance was interpreted as the policy that separated children from their parents,’ AOC said.
Homan, in explaining the policy, said: ‘If I get arrested for DUI and have a young child in my car, then I’m going to be separated. When I was a police officer in New York and I arrested a father for domestic violence, I separated them.’
‘Mr. Homan, with all due respect, legal asylees are not charged with any crime,’ AOC countered.
‘When you’re in the country illegally it’s violation 8 under the United States Code 1325.’
‘Seeking asylum is legal,’ AOC insisted.
‘If you want to seek asylum and go through the port of entry – do it the legal way,’ Homan said. ‘The Attorney General of the United States has made that clear.’
Democrats were immediately troubled and expressed their concern over the weekend after Trump announced Homan would be returning to help lead White House immigration and border policies.
Homan became a Fox News contributor and public speaker after his time in the first Trump administration. He also joined the conservative Heritage Foundation as a fellow and founded Homeland Strategies Consulting
Post-White House career
After his time serving in the first Trump White House, Homan became a Fox News contributor.
In February 2022, he joined the conservative Heritage Foundation as a visiting fellow and contributed to its Project 2025 policy proposal that included mass deportation and detention of illegal immigrants living without documentation in the U.S.
He also owns Homeland Strategies Consulting firm, is a best-selling author and a big voice in public speaking when it comes to national security and border-related issues.
During the National Conservatism Conference over the summer, Homan said: ‘[If] Trump comes back in January, I’ll be on his heels coming back, and I will run the biggest deportation force this country has ever seen. They ain’t seen s*** yet. Wait until 2025.’
‘If you’re here illegally, you better be looking over your shoulder,’ he said.
Trump said the next day at a campaign rally that he would likely bring Homan back if he got another term.
At the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in July this year, Homan called Biden’s immigration policies ‘national suicide.’
He told ‘millions of illegal aliens’ to ‘start packing’.
