Trump names former ICE director Tom Homan as border czar

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has named Tom Homan, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), to oversee the border and mass deportations in his second administration.

Trump, in a post on his Truth Social website, said Homan will serve as his “border czar”, putting him in charge of the country’s southern and northern border, as well as maritime and aviation security.

Trump has pledged to launch the largest deportation of undocumented immigrants in U.S. history, and the president-elect said Homan will be in charge of the operation.

“I’ve known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Congratulations to Tom. I have no doubt he will do a fantastic, and long awaited for, job.”

Trump, who served as president from 2017 to 2021, will return to the White House on January 20 after winning last Tuesday’s presidential election, beating Vice President Kamala Harris.

Homan served as Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from January 2017 to June 2018. He later joined Fox News as a contributor. His appointment as border czar does not require Senate confirmation.

Last month, Homan shrugged off concerns about families being separated through Trump’s plans for mass deportations, saying: “Families can be deported together.” Homan also rejected criticism of migrant children being separated from their families, saying families “chose to separate” by entering the U.S. illegally.

Cecilia Vega asks: “Is there a way to carry out mass deportation without separating families?”

“Of course there is. Families can be deported together,” says Tom Homan, head of ICE during Trump’s family separation policy. https://t.co/If9G1sNEzj pic.twitter.com/TIWhi25Vdu

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) October 28, 2024