Wikipedia

Tom Homan

Thomas Douglas Homan (born November 28, 1961)[2] is an American law enforcement officer and political commentator who served as acting director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from January 30, 2017, to June 29, 2018. In November 2024, then president-elect Donald Trump designated Homan as "border czar", whose official title is White House Executive Associate Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations, during Trump's second presidency.

Tom Homan
Homan in 2024
White House Executive Associate Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations[1]
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 20, 2025
PresidentDonald Trump
Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
In office
January 30, 2017 – June 28, 2018
Acting: January 30, 2017 – November 14, 2017[a]
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byDaniel Ragsdale (acting)
Succeeded byRonald Vitiello (acting)
Deputy Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
In office
November 14, 2017 – June 28, 2018
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byDaniel Ragsdale
Succeeded byPeter T. Edge (acting)
Personal details
Born
Thomas Douglas Homan

November 28, 1961 (age 63)
West Carthage, New York, U.S.
SpouseElizabeth
EducationJefferson Community College (AS)
SUNY Polytechnic Institute (BS)
AwardsPresidential Rank Award (2015)

Homan advocates deportation of illegal immigrants and opposes sanctuary city policies. Within the government, he was among the most strident proponents of separating children from their parents as a means of deterring illegal entry into the country. After 2018, he began contributing to Fox News as a commentator.

Early life and education

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Homan was born in West Carthage, New York, into a Roman Catholic family.[3] His father and grandfather were West Carthage police officers.[4] He received an associate degree in criminal justice from Jefferson Community College and a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from SUNY Polytechnic Institute.[4][5]

Early career

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In 1983, Homan became a police officer in West Carthage.[4][6]

In 1984, Homan joined what was then called the US Immigration and Naturalization Service. He served as a United States Border Patrol agent, investigator, and supervisor over a 30-year career.[6] He quickly transferred from the Wellesley Island station to the Texas division and spent five years as a uniformed agent in California and Arizona.[7]

Homan was a supervisor on the Texas border with Mexico in 2003. One incident in Victoria TX stands out in his mind: the human smuggling case in which 19 illegal immigrants died in the steel box of a tractor trailer which turned into a furnace in the baking hot Texas sun. Along with more than a dozen people, the truck driver was later convicted and is now imprisoned for more than 50 years.[7]

Washington career (2014-2018)

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Obama administration (2014–2016)

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He was appointed by President Barack Obama as Immigration and Customs Enforcement's executive associate director of enforcement and removal operations in 2013.[6]

By 2014, under the Obama administration, Homan began to argue that separating children from their caregivers would be an effective means of discouraging illegal border crossings. The journalist Caitlin Dickerson describes him as the "intellectual father" of the policy, which he outlined years before it was adopted by the Trump administration. “Most parents don’t want to be separated”, Homan told Dickerson. He argued that this fact made separation an effective tool for immigration enforcement: “I’d be lying to you if I didn’t think that would have an effect.”[8]

In 2015, Obama awarded him a Presidential Rank Award as a Distinguished Executive. A Washington Post article at the time stated, "Thomas Homan deports people. And he's really good at it."[9][10]

First Trump administration (2017–2018)

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Homan in 2017

On January 30, 2017, President Donald Trump demoted acting ICE director Daniel Ragsdale to deputy director, a position Ragsdale had already held since May 2012, and appointed Homan as acting director.[11]

In May 2017, Homan announced ICE had arrested 41,319 people between Inauguration Day and the end of April, a 38% increase from the same period the year before.[12] The following month, Homan said that illegal immigrants "should be afraid".[13] He has denied saying "aliens commit more crimes than US citizens."[14]

On November 14, 2017, Trump nominated Homan for ICE director.[15]

In February 2018, Homan said that politicians who support sanctuary city policies should be charged with crimes.[16] In April 2018, he and Kevin McAleenan formally advised Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen to implement the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy on immigration, including the prosecution of parents and the separation of children from their families. Homan participated in the May 2018 press conference announcing that the policy was going into effect.[8] On June 5, 2018, Homan appeared for a discussion with the policy director of the Center for Immigration Studies, where he defended the separation of children from their parents.[17][18]

Homan retired from his position as acting ICE director in June 2018.[19]

Between Trump administrations (2018–2024)

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After 2018, Homan began contributing to Fox News as a commentator.[20]

In July 2019, Homan testified before the U.S. House Oversight Committee regarding the Trump administration's family separation policy.[21]

Homan published "Defend the Border and Save Lives: Solving Our Most Important Humanitarian and Security Crisis" in March 2020.[22][23]

In February 2022, Homan joined the Heritage Foundation, and became a contributor to its Project 2025, which proposes mass arrests, detentions and deportations of illegal immigrants across the nation, though his name is not listed on any specific chapter or policy ideas.[24][25]

On February 25, 2022, Homan was slated as a keynote speaker for the America First Political Action Conference held near Orlando, Florida, but left before the conference began after he learned that the conference's founder Nick Fuentes praised Russian president Vladimir Putin for the invasion of Ukraine.[26]

In November 2022, Homan launched a border-focused project called "Defend the Border and Save Lives" in collaboration with the United West, a Southern Poverty Law Center-designated anti-Muslim hate group. The project, which shares staff and an address with the United West, held a fundraising event at Mar-a-Lago that month, and has been criticized for promoting inflammatory rhetoric about immigration and Muslims.[27]

At a July 2024 National Conservatism Conference meeting, Homan said if "Trump comes back in January, I'll be on his heels coming back, and I will run the biggest deportation force this country has ever seen. They ain't seen shit yet. Wait until 2025."[28] On July 17 at the 2024 Republican National Convention, Homan called Biden's immigration policies "national suicide" and told "millions of illegal aliens" to "start packing". Homan said that drug cartels would be designated as terrorist organizations and that Donald Trump would "wipe them off the face of the earth".[29][30]

Border czar (2025–present)

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Main article: Mass deportation of illegal immigrants in the second presidency of Donald Trump

President-elect Trump announced on November 10, 2024, that Homan would be joining the incoming administration as the "border czar",[31][32] whose official title is White House Executive Associate Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations,[1] writing that "Homan will be in charge of all deportation of illegal aliens back to their country of origin."[33] Trump plans on using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 in efforts to deport undocumented immigrants.[34]

In February 2025, Hatewatch reported that Homan met multiple times with Proud Boys associate Terry Newsome. Two of these encounters occurred after the 2024 United States presidential election, presumably to discuss mass deportation. The Southern Poverty Law Center noted that "Homan was also a guest on Newsome’s podcast in October 2024 and was a featured speaker at an anti-immigration event Newsome hosted in Chicago in June 2024."[35]

Also in February 2025, while appearing with New York City mayor Eric Adams on the Fox News program Fox & Friends to discuss Adams' cooperation with ICE on immigration issues, Homan said "If he doesn’t come through, I’ll be back in New York City, and we won’t be sitting on the couch—I’ll be in his office, up his butt, saying, ‘Where the hell is the agreement we came to?"[36]

The same month, Homan got into a dispute with New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over Ocasio-Cortez educating immigrants about their constitutional rights, which Homan claims "impedes" law enforcement. Homan said that he has asked the Department of Justice to investigate whether Ocasio-Cortez's actions are considered to impede ICE and she can potentially be prosecuted, telling Fox News host Laura Ingraham "maybe AOC’s gonna be in trouble now." In response to Homan's comment, Ocasio-Cortez left a mocking response on social media that stated "MaYbe shE’s goiNg to be in TroUble nOw. Maybe he can learn to read. The Constitution would be a good place to start."[37]

In March 2025, two planeloads of people alleged to be Venezuelan gang members by the Trump administration were deported to El Salvador, defying a court order blocking the deportations.[38][39] Homan told the media that the administration completed the deportations despite the court order, because the court order was made when the planes were above international waters after departing the United States. Homan also declared regarding deportations: "Another flight every day. [...] We are not stopping. I don't care what the judges think."[38]

On 17 April 2025, Homan was interviewed by Kaitlan Collins about the deportation of American citizens to foreign prisons. He said that was “out of his lane” and threw the question over to Attorney-General Pam Bondi.[40]

Personal life

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Homan has described himself as "a lifelong Catholic”,[41] and has been described as "a devout mass-goer", and has been critical of Pope Francis' position on immigration.[42] He is married to Elizabeth Homan and they have four children together.[43]

References

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  1. ^ a b "White House 'Border Czar' Thomas Homan Visits USAO-DC". United States Attorney's Office, D.C. April 23, 2025. Retrieved April 25, 2025.
  2. ^ "Tom Homan - White House (Jan. 2025-), Border Czar - Biography | LegiStorm". LegiStorm. Retrieved January 21, 2025.
  3. ^ McDonald, Matthew (November 19, 2024). "Border Czar Tom Homan: Faith and Policy at a Crossroads". National Catholic Register. Retrieved November 22, 2024.
  4. ^ a b c Planas, Roque (April 13, 2018). "Trump Hired A Cop To Run ICE. It Didn't Work Out". HuffPost. Retrieved January 21, 2025.
  5. ^ Molongoski, Brian (December 4, 2024). "Trump appoints West Carthage native as ICE director". Watertown Daily Times.
  6. ^ a b c Nixon, Ron (January 31, 2017). "Trump Names Thomas Homan as Acting Immigration Enforcement Chief". The New York Times. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
  7. ^ a b "Tom Homan - The U.S. Border Czar - SRS #200". YouTube. May 15, 2025.
  8. ^ a b Dickerson, Caitlin (August 7, 2022). "An American Catastrophe". The Atlantic. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
  9. ^ Rein, Lisa (April 25, 2016). "Meet the man the White House has honored for deporting illegal immigrants". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
  10. ^ "5 things to know about ICE Director Thomas Homan". ABC 10. March 28, 2017. Retrieved November 11, 2024.
  11. ^ Multiple sources:
  12. ^ Dickerson, Caitlin (May 18, 2017). "Immigration Arrests Rise Sharply as a Trump Mandate Is Carried Out". The New York Times. p. A22. Retrieved May 19, 2017.
  13. ^ Kopan, Tal (June 16, 2017). "ICE Director: Undocumented Immigrants 'Should be Afraid'". CNN. Retrieved June 29, 2017.
  14. ^ Mark, Michelle (June 28, 2017). "ICE Director Appears to Break with One of Trump's Key Beliefs on Immigrants and Crime". Business Insider. Retrieved June 29, 2017.
  15. ^ Shayanian, Sara (November 14, 2017). "Donald Trump nominates Tom Homan as ICE director". UPI. Retrieved March 27, 2025.
  16. ^ Conradis, Brandon (January 2, 2018). "Trump ICE pick: Politicians who run sanctuary cities should be charged with crimes". The Hill. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
  17. ^ Rhodan, Maya (June 5, 2018). "Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Defends Separating Families at the Border". Time. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
  18. ^ Rod, Marc (June 19, 2018). "Acting ICE director on whether 'zero tolerance' policy is humane: 'It's the law'". CNN. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
  19. ^ Bernal, Rafael (April 30, 2018). "Acting ICE director to retire". The Hill. Retrieved April 30, 2018.
  20. ^ Blitzer, Jonathan (June 24, 2019). "ICE Agents Are Losing Patience with Trump's Chaotic Immigration Policy". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
  21. ^ Kaufman, Elle (July 12, 2019). "Former ICE official trades heated words with lawmakers at hearing". CNN. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
  22. ^ "Trump picks Tom Homan for 'border czar'". November 11, 2024.
  23. ^ https://www.fairus.org/blog/2020/12/23/tom-homans-must-read-book-immigration. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  24. ^ Savage, Charlie; Haberman, Maggie; Swan, Jonathan (November 11, 2023). "Sweeping Raids, Giant Camps and Mass Deportations: Inside Trump's 2025 Immigration Plans". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on July 5, 2024.
  25. ^ Leingang, Rachel (December 9, 2024). "Project 2025: the Trump picks with ties to ultra-rightwing policy manifesto". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved December 15, 2024.
  26. ^ Mathias, Christopher (March 3, 2022). "White Nationalists with lanyards: Orlando showed the ugly future of the Republican Party". HuffPost. Retrieved March 5, 2022.
  27. ^ Kieffer, Caleb (November 3, 2022). "Former ICE Chief Taps Anti-Muslim Hate Group To Help Run Border-Focused Project". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved November 16, 2024.
  28. ^ Weigel, David (July 9, 2024). "Trump's 'national conservative' allies plot a revenge administration". Semafor. Retrieved March 27, 2025.
  29. ^ Mathias, Christopher (July 18, 2024). "He Went To A White Supremacist Conference. He Just Spoke At The RNC". HuffPost. Archived from the original on July 18, 2024. Retrieved July 18, 2024.
  30. ^ Treisman, Rachel (November 11, 2024). "What to know about Tom Homan, the former ICE head returning as Trump's 'border czar'". NPR. Retrieved March 27, 2025.
  31. ^ Collins, Kaitlan (November 10, 2024). "Trump announces Tom Homan, his former acting ICE director, will be administration's 'border czar'". CNN. Retrieved November 10, 2024.
  32. ^ Samuels, Brett (November 11, 2024). "Trump names former ICE director Homan 'border czar'". The Hill. Retrieved March 27, 2025.
  33. ^ Ives, Mike (November 11, 2024). "Trump Names Thomas Homan 'Border Czar' With a Wide Portfolio". The New York Times. Retrieved March 27, 2025.
  34. ^ Marcus, Josh; Rhian, Lubin (November 11, 2024). "Trump rehires Tom Homan, father of family separation policy, as border czar". The Independent. Retrieved November 11, 2024.
  35. ^ Tischauser, Jeff (February 7, 2025). "Head of Trump's Immigration Plans Met Proud Boys Associate About Deportations". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved February 10, 2025.
  36. ^ Graham, David A. (February 14, 2025). "The Public Humiliation of Eric Adams". The Atlantic. Retrieved February 16, 2025.
  37. ^ Zehra, Ailia (February 17, 2025). "Homan says he's asked DOJ whether Ocasio-Cortez is impeding ICE". The Hill. Retrieved February 18, 2025.
  38. ^ a b Saric, Ivana (March 17, 2025). "Trump's border czar: "I don't care what the judges think"". Axios. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  39. ^ Smith, Mataeo (March 27, 2025). "Trump sends innocent man to El Salvador for having autism awareness tattoo". Irish Star. Retrieved March 27, 2025.
  40. ^ "Border Czar Squirms Trying to Defend Trump's Plot to Jail Americans Overseas". April 18, 2025.
  41. ^ Sentner, Iris (April 18, 2025). "JD Vance to spend Easter in Rome amid tiff with Pope Francis". Politico. Retrieved April 19, 2025.
  42. ^ McDonald, Matthew (November 19, 2024). "Border Czar Tom Homan: Faith and Policy at a Crossroads". National Catholic Register. Retrieved March 27, 2025.
  43. ^ Sarkar, Ishani (February 21, 2025). "Meet the family of Donald Trump's 'border tsar', Tom Homan". South China Morning Post. Retrieved March 27, 2025.

Notes

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  1. ^ Homan initially held the position of Acting Director. Following his nomination to become official Director on November 14, 2017, Homan became Deputy Director and Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director to comply with the Vacancies Act, and held said title until his retirement.
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  Media related to Thomas D. Homan at Wikimedia Commons

Government offices
Preceded byas acting director Acting Director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
2017–2018 		Succeeded byas acting director
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tom_Homan&oldid=1291890763"