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 new 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 President Joe Biden has implemented over the past four years and the reinstatement of Trump’s policies that the Democratic government has dismantled.
The core of his new job will be implementing Trump’s vow to undertake mass deportations of illegal immigrants who poured into the US 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 the administration that addresses the unprecedented crackdown at the border.
Homan served as Trump’s acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for the first year and a half of his administration, which began in January 2017.
Trump then nominated Homan as director of ICE on November 14, 2017, a position that requires Senate confirmation. But in April 2018, the acting chief announced he would resign in June of the same year.
Just days after winning the 2024 presidential election, Trump announced 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 assumed by Biden when he appointed 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 have no legal authority over the federal agencies involved in border and immigration policy.
So who is the man who will lead the White House border policy?
Early life and career
Homan is from upstate New York, 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 what was then called the Immigration and Naturalization Service in 1984, which was eventually renamed the United States Border Patrol.
Homan worked in law enforcement for thirty years as a Border Patrol agent and also served as an investigator and supervisor for the agency over the years.
In 2013, he was appointed Executive Associate Director of ICE by President Barack Obama.
Homan worked for decades at the Border Patrol since 1984 in various positions – including as an agent, investigator and supervisor
A year later, Homan was a strong proponent of implementing policies that were widely criticized for separating migrant parents from their children as 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 it would have an effect.”
Obama awarded Homan the Presidential Rank Award as Distinguished Executive in 2015
In an April 2016 article, the Washington Post wrote, “Thomas Homan is deporting people. And he’s really good at it.
Activity during 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 named Homan acting director.
With Trump at the helm and Homan heading 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 period the year before under Obama.
In April, Homan advised Trump’s Secretary of Homeland Security, Kierstjen Nielsen, to implement a “zero tolerance” policy on immigration, which would prosecute parents and continue the separation of adults who bring minors to the U.S. illegally from other countries brought.
Trump nominated Homan as ICE director to drop the “acting” out of his position. He was not confirmed by the Senate before announcing his intention to retire in June 2018 six months later.
Just before he resigned from 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’ policy that resulted in the separation of parents from their children as they illegally crossed the southern border
Homan has drawn criticism from Democrats and progressives who say his approach to the southern border is “inhumane.”
Democratic ‘Squad’ Criticism
Much of the backlash against Homan’s policies stemmed from the fact that illegal immigrant parents were kept separated from the children they illegally brought across 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 confirmation hearing with Homan: “As a fellow countryman, I want you to know that your contribution as acting director of ICE under this administration will always be remembered as one that was very valuable. ruthless and inhumane treatment of asylum seekers.
“I am deeply disturbed by your opening statement and the continued attack on innocent lives,” she said, criticizing him for creating the child separation policy.
Fellow 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.
In explaining the policy, Homan said, “If I get arrested for drunk driving and have a young child in my car, I will be separated. When I was a police officer in New York and I arrested a father for domestic violence, I separated them.”
‘Sir. Homan, with all due respect, legal asylum seekers are not accused of any crime,” AOC countered.
“If you are in the country illegally, that is violation 8 of U.S. Code 1325.”
“Seeking asylum is legal,” AOC emphasized.
“If you want to apply for 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 alarmed, raising concerns this weekend after Trump announced Homan would return to help lead the White House’s 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
Career after the White House
After serving his time in Trump’s first White House, Homan became a Fox News contributor.
In February 2022, he joined the conservative Heritage Foundation as a visiting scholar and contributed to the Project 2025 policy proposal, which included the mass deportation and detention of illegal immigrants living undocumented in the US.
He also owns the consulting firm Homeland Strategies, is a best-selling author and a major voice in public speaking when it comes to national security and border-related issues.
At the National Conservatism Conference last summer Homan said: ‘(If) Trump returns in January, I will be on his heels and I will lead the largest deportation force this country has ever seen. They haven’t seen shit yet. Wait until 2025.”
“If you’re here illegally, you better look over your shoulder,” he said.
Trump said at a campaign rally the next day that he would likely bring Homan back if he was given 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.”