Tom Homan, tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to be his incoming administration’s “border czar,” is a veteran immigration official and immigration hawk whose legislation enforcement profession spans many years.
As soon as a police officer in New York state and Border Patrol agent, the Obama administration tapped him to move Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s deportation department in 2013. Throughout Homan’s time at ICE below President Obama, the company carried out file numbers of formal deportations. Obama gave Homan a Presidential Rank Award, the best civil service recognition.
Trump early in his first time period named Homan appearing director of ICE. He shortly generated controversy when he advised undocumented immigrants “must be afraid” below the Trump administration.
Homan was one of many masterminds of the primary Trump administration’s notorious “zero tolerance” coverage, which led to the separation of 1000’s of migrant youngsters from their mother and father. The mother and father have been prosecuted for unlawful entry, whereas the youngsters have been despatched to shelters for unaccompanied minors — with no plan to reunite them. He was one of many three officers who signed the coverage memo that then-Homeland Safety Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen accredited to greenlight the separations. He left ICE in June 2018.
Throughout an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” final month, Homan outlined how the U.S. authorities would perform the most important deportation operation in American historical past, considered one of Trump’s signature pledges on the marketing campaign path.
“It isn’t threatening to the immigrant group,” Homan mentioned of Trump’s marketing campaign promise. “It must be threatening to the unlawful immigrant group. However on the heels of [a] historic unlawful immigration disaster. That must be performed.”
He advised to CBS Information correspondent Cecilia Vega that he would goal criminals and nationwide safety threats first, after which search to deport non-criminal migrants who’re within the nation illegally and are ordered deported. That will require reversing Biden administration guidelines that at the moment instruct ICE to deal with arresting and deporting severe criminals, nationwide safety threats and up to date border crossers and that successfully protect undocumented immigrants who’ve lived within the U.S. for a very long time with out committing severe crimes from deportation.
Homan additionally indicated he would revive large-scale immigration arrests at workplaces, which the Biden administration discontinued in 2021. “That is gonna be vital,” he mentioned of worksite immigration enforcement.
However Homan mentioned the deportation operation wouldn’t contain “focus camps” or a “mass sweep of neighborhoods.”
Requested if mass deportations could possibly be carried out with out separating households, Homan mentioned, “In fact there may be. Households might be deported collectively.” One research reveals roughly 4 million U.S. citizen youngsters stay with an undocumented father or mother.
