Trump announces “border czar” will be Tom Homan, former head of immigration enforcement

President-elect Donald Trump says Tom Homan, his former acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director, will serve as “border czar” in his incoming administration.

“I am pleased to announce that the Former ICE Director, and stalwart on Border Control, Tom Homan, will be joining the Trump Administration, in charge of our Nation’s Borders,” he wrote late Sunday on his Truth Social site.

Homan was widely expected to be offered a position related to the border and Trump’s pledge to launch the largest deportation operation in the country’s history.

In addition to overseeing the southern and northern borders and “maritime, and aviation security,” Trump said Homan “will be in charge of all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin,” a central part of his agenda.

He says he had “no doubt” Homan “will do a fantastic, and long awaited for, job.”

Such a role does not require Senate confirmation.

In an interview on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” Homan said the military wouldn’t be rounding up and arresting immigrants in the country illegally and that ICE would move to implement Trump’s plans in a “humane manner.”

“It’s going to be a well-targeted, planned operation conducted by the men of ICE. The men and women of ICE do this daily. They’re good at it,” he said. “When we go out there, we’re going to know who we’re looking for. We most likely know where they’re going to be, and it’s going to be done in a humane manner.”

On 60 Minutes on Oct. 27, 2024, nine days before the election, Homan defended what at the time was candidate Trump’s vow to institute a mass deportation plan.

“I hear a lot of people say, you know, the talk of a mass deportation is racist.” Homan said. “It’s– it’s– it’s threatening to immigrant community. It’s not threatening to the immigrant community. It should be threatening to the illegal immigrant community. But on the heels of [a] historic illegal immigration crisis. That has to be done.”  

Earlier this year, at the National Conservatism Conference, in Washington, Homan expressed frustration at the news coverage of a mass deportation operation.

“Wait until 2025,” he said, adding that, while he thinks the government needed to prioritize national security threats, “no one’s off the table. If you’re here illegally, you better be looking over your shoulder.”

He also said: “You’ve got my word. Trump comes back in January, I’ll be in his heels coming back, and I will run the biggest deportation operation this country’s ever seen.”