Chances are, most Americans have never heard the name Tom Homan. Given the role he will soon fill in Donald Trump’s second administration, he will likely become much better known soon. NBC News reported:
President-elect Donald Trump announced late Sunday that Tom Homan, the former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement who supported his controversial “zero tolerance” policy, will become his administration’s “border czar.”
“I am pleased to announce that former ICE Director, and avid border patrol officer, Tom Homan, will be joining the Trump Administration in charge of our nation’s borders (‘The Border Czar’), including , but not limited to, the Southern Border, the Northern Border, all Maritime, and Aviation Security,” Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform.
“I have known Tom for a long time, and there is no one better at guarding and controlling our borders,” the message continued. “Similarly, Tom Homan will be responsible for all deportations of illegal aliens back to their countries of origin. Congratulations to Tom. I have no doubt that he will do a fantastic and long-awaited job.”
The president-elect’s confidence is misplaced.
As Rachel explained on the show a few weeks ago, Homan is largely considered the architect of Trump’s policy of ripping children away from their parents at the border. He also happens to be one of the Republicans who helped write the right-wing Project 2025 blueprint.
At a radical rally in Pennsylvania last month, Homan also publicly pledged: “I will lead the largest deportation operation this country has ever seen.”
Five weeks later, Trump asked him to serve as the country’s “border czar.” (This position does not require Senate confirmation.)
Ahead of Election Day, the Republican candidate boasted about his vision for mass deportations — apparently through militarized deportations and mass detention camps — although some of his congressional colleagues have suggested in the aftermath of the election that the actual policy will be less extreme. On CNN’s “State of the Union,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan said the new administration wanted to focus on “migrants here who have committed crimes.”
On NBC News’ Meet the Press, Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Barrasso made a similar comment, telling host Kristen Welker, referring to the deportations, “We’re talking about people who belong to criminal cartels, drug dealers, people on the terrorist watch list.”
However, there are a number of reasons to be skeptical of these attempts to downplay the scope of the coming policy. For starters, it conflicts with Trump’s first-term agenda.
For someone else, Homan has already made it clear that his focus is wouldn’t be limited to dangerous criminals. For example, in an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” that aired a few weeks ago, the new “border czar” was asked if there was a way to carry out mass deportations without separating families.
“Of course it is,” he replied. “Families can be deported together.”
In the same interview, Homan suggested that children who are U.S. citizens should also expect to have to pack up and move to an unknown country if their parents are undocumented.
There was a time in the not-too-distant past when Republicans shied away from such positions, fearing a backlash from Latino voters. But in 2024, Trump pushed a reactionary anti-immigrant platform and made dramatic gains among Latino voters anyway.
Ron Brownstein has written quite a bit about this for The Atlantic, explaining that Trump has reason to believe he can “achieve the best of both worlds politically”: the Republican can energize xenophobic, far-right voters with his anti-immigrant agenda, while adding voices from immigrant communities who don’t know or care about his hate-filled vision.
It is against this background that Homan receives a radical assignment from the newly elected president. Watch this space.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
