President-elect Donald Trump said Tom Homan, his former acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement director, will serve as “border czar” in his new administration.
I am pleased to announce that former ICE Director and border control pillar, Tom Homan, will join the Trump administration, in charge of our nation’s borders,” he wrote Sunday evening on his Truth Social website.
Homan was widely expected to be offered a position tied 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 “sea and air security,” Trump said Homan “will be responsible for all deportations of illegal aliens to their home countries,” a central part of his agenda.
He said he had “no doubt” that Homan “would do a fantastic and long overdue job.”
Such a role does not require Senate confirmation.
In an interview with Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” Homan said the military would not round up or arrest immigrants in the country illegally and that ICE would take steps to enforce implements Trump’s plans in a “humane way.”
“This will be a well-targeted and planned operation carried out by ICE personnel. The men and women of ICE do it every day. They are good at it,” he said. “When we go there, we will know who we are looking for. We most likely know where they are going to be, and it will be done in a humane manner. »
Earlier this year, at the National Conservatism Conference in Washington, Homan expressed frustration with media coverage of a mass deportation operation.
“Wait until 2025,” he said, adding that while he believes the government must prioritize national security threats, “no one is excluded.” If you’re here illegally, you better look over your shoulder.
He also said: “You have my word. Trump will return in January, I will be hot on his heels, and I will lead the largest deportation operation this country has ever seen.”
In the first show since Tuesday’s presidential election, the cast of “Saturday Night Live” sarcastically congratulated Donald Trump on his victory over Vice President Kamala Harris.
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Associated Press writer Adriana Gomez Licon in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., contributed to this report.
