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Trump appoints Tom Homan as “border czar” to oversee deportations

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WASHINGTON – Tom Homan, the former head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, will become a “border czar” overseeing deportation policies for undocumented immigrants and airline safety, President-elect Donald Trump announced.

Homan was a controversial figure in Trump's first term because he oversaw the “zero tolerance” policy that separated families of undocumented immigrants.

But he has been a vocal supporter of strict immigration enforcement for Trump, who promised that a mass deportation of an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants would begin on his first day in office on January 20.

“I have known Tom for a long time and there is no one better at policing and controlling our borders,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Sunday. “Similarly, Tom Homan will be responsible for all deportations of illegal aliens back to their country of origin.”

Homan served as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement during Trump's first term. He became a lightning rod for criticism of Trump's efforts to seal the southern border by extending the wall, denying entry while asylum applications were processed and immediately sending back undocumented immigrants who were apprehended.

CBS' “60 Minutes” asked Homan in October whether there was a way to avoid separating families during mass deportations if one parent was undocumented, another was a naturalized citizen and the children were born in the United States

“Of course there is,” Homan said. “Families can be deported together.”

Homan was a Border Patrol agent for 34 years and argued that lax border enforcement under Democrats during the Biden administration had led to a surge in migrants. Trump criticized Biden throughout the campaign over immigration as a flood of dangerous criminals and drugs flowing into the country.

“Every president I worked for said he would secure the border,” Homan said at the Republican National Convention in July, after working for six presidents since Ronald Reagan. “Trump actually did it.”

“Guess what? He'll do it again,” Homan said.

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