Trump Appoints Former ICE Chief Tom Homan As 'Border Czar'—Here’s What He’s Said About Mass Deportations

 President-elect Donald Trump announced on Sunday he will appoint the former acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Tom Homan, as his “Border Czar,” bringing back a key figure who oversaw his first administration’s controversial family separation policy.

 

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump called Homan a “stalwart on Border Control” and said he “will be joining the Trump Administration, in charge of our Nation’s Borders (“The Border Czar”).”

In his “Border Czar” role Homan will oversee “the Southern Border, the Northern Border, all Maritime, and Aviation Security,” the president-elect said.

Trump hailed Homan saying there was “nobody better at policing and controlling” the borders and added that he would be “ in charge of all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin.”

Unlike cabinet appointments, Trump’s “Border Czar” pick will not have to go through a Senate confirmation process.

Homan also served as a contributor to Project 2025—the controversial hard-right blueprint for the next conservative White House administration which the Trump administration has tried to distance itself from.

In an interview with Fox News earlier on Sunday, Homan defended Trump’s mass deportation plans and said, “It's going to be a well-targeted, planned operation conducted, led by the men and women of ICE…When we go out there we’ll know who we’re looking for and most probably where they're going to be and this will be done in a humane manner.” Homan also dismissed suggestions that the military would be used for such and claimed “ICE has the highest detention standards in the industry, these people will be well taken care of.”

Homan is considered to be one of the key architects of the controversial “zero tolerance” family separation policy undertaken by the first Trump administration. According to a 2022 report by the Atlantic, Homan was one of the first government officials to pitch the idea of prosecuting undocumented migrants who cross the border illegally with their children and separating them. The plan was rejected at first for being “heartless and impractical” but later adopted during Trump’s first term which resulted in at least 5,000 families being separated. Speaking at the National Conservatism conference in July, Homan said if Trump returned to office, “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.”

Last month, in an interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes” and was asked about bringing back family separations and said “I don't know of any formal policy where they're talkin' about family separations” but added that it “needs to be considered, absolutely.” When asked about carrying out mass deportations without separating families, the former acting ICE chief said “Of course there is…Families can be deported together.”