President-elect Donald Trump announced Sunday that Thomas Homan, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), will be the new administration's “border czar.”
Who is Homan and what might he do?
“I've known Tom for a long time, and there's no one better than him to secure and manage our borders. Similarly, Tom Homan will be in charge of all deportations. Masu” illegal alien Return to your country of origin. Congratulations, Tom. I have no doubt that he will do a great and long overdue job,” President Trump said on Truth Social on Sunday.
Homan is a former New York state trooper and former Border Patrol agent. He was selected by the Obama administration to lead ICE's removal operations and received an award for his work deporting illegal immigrants.
President Trump's 'border czar' warns Democratic government that rejects Trump's deportation plan: 'Get rid of him completely'
President Trump and Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Thomas Homan meet during the Law Enforcement Roundtable at the White House on March 20, 2018. (Javin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“Thomas Homan deports people, and he's really good at it,” the Washington Post said of Homan in a 2016 profile. But Mr. Homan said it was a badge of honor and displayed the story in his office.
When President Trump was elected in 2016, he appointed Homan as acting director of the entire agency, and Homan became one of the key faces of the first Trump administration in the first few years, leading the charge for widespread deportations. He became an advocate. President-elect Trump has promised to launch a “historic” mass deportation campaign during his second term.
His involvement in the Trump administration's “zero tolerance” policies, which included separating minors from accompanying adults, has become a lightning rod for Democrats, some of whom have called for the agency to be abolished entirely. there was.
Homan repeatedly clashed with Democratic leaders, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (New York) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington), during House hearings, and the clashes went viral online and are still ongoing. It is regularly shared on social media platforms. In a clash with Ocasio-Cortez, Homan defended family separation.
“If I was arrested for drunk driving and I had a young child in the car, I would be pulled over,” he said.
“With all due respect, Mr. Homan, legal asylum seekers are not charged with any crime,” AOC said.
“Liberation Day”: What to expect from President-elect Trump regarding border security and immigration control
Homan fired back: “If you enter the country illegally, you violate 8 U.S.C. 1325. … If you want to seek asylum, go through a port of entry and do it in a legal way.”
Jayapal clashed with Homan during a 2019 Judiciary Subcommittee hearing, resorting to giving Homan a gavel when he refused to back down as time expired.
“I'm a taxpayer. You work for me,” Homan told Jayapal.
Homan is similarly candid in interviews, with a reputation for answering questions posed clearly and directly. When asked in an interview on 60 Minutes last month how a family could be deported without separating the family, Homan said, “Families can be deported together.” Ta.
On Friday, days before he was announced as border czar, Homan spoke to Fox News Digital about what mass deportations would look like, downplaying some of the left's heated rhetoric.
For more information on the border security crisis, click here
“It's not going to be a large-scale neighborhood sweep or a large-scale raid. It's going to be a targeted enforcement operation,” he said, promising that threats to national security and public safety would be targeted first. did.
But he cautioned that that doesn't mean everyone is taken off the table: “If you're in a country where you're in the country illegally, you have a problem.”
He also issued a warning to states that have pledged to resist deportation efforts.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“We have a mission. I think the American people just gave.” president playing cards Duty. That's why he was chosen to secure our borders, save lives, and deport people, especially national security threats and public safety threats. So if you're not going to help us, please step aside. But don't interrupt us. Because there are consequences. ”
