Trump to appoint former immigration official Tom Homan as US ‘border czar’
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Mr Tom Homan is also a contender for secretary of homeland security.
PHOTO: AFP
Follow topic:
WASHINGTON - US President-elect Donald Trump said on Nov 10 that Mr Tom Homan, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, will be in charge of the country’s borders in his new administration.
Mr Homan will be “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 said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
“I’ve known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders,” Trump said. “Likewise, Tom Homan will be in charge of all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin.”
Mr Homan, who served in the Trump administration for a year and a half during his first term, is also a contender for secretary of homeland security.
The 62-year-old was the public face of Trump’s zero-tolerance immigration policies, which broke with the practice of keeping families together during detention and deportation proceedings.
As a result, thousands of undocumented migrant children were separated from family members, drawing widespread backlash.
In a recent interview with CBS News, Mr Homan downplayed the possibility of similar impacts as Trump’s plans for the mass deportation of undocumented migrants takes shape, saying that “families could be deported together”.
“It’s not going to be a mass sweep of neighbourhoods. It’s not going to be building concentration camps. I’ve read it all. It’s ridiculous,” Mr Homan said.
Trump and his transition team have not outlined how they plan to accomplish the effort, which is likely to require substantial funding from Congress and the cooperation of countries to accept returning migrants.
Still, allies have said Trump will move quickly to reverse the immigration policies of President Joe Biden, using the executive authorities to scale back pathways for migrants to apply for asylum.
The choice of Mr Homan also suggests that participation in The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 will not prevent people from getting appointed to jobs in Trump’s administration.
Mr Homan had contributed to the policy project, which the President-elect had sought to distance himself from on the campaign trail.
Trump is expected to use czar-like positions to concentrate power among loyalists in the White House, giving appointees broad discretion over government departments and agencies to implement his agenda. White House roles do not require Senate confirmation.
The “Border Czar” title also comes after Trump and other Republicans derisively applied that description to Vice-President Kamala Harris during the campaign, saying she failed in her effort to oversee a portfolio addressing the root causes of migration from Central America.
Trump is meeting potential candidates to serve in his administration before his Jan 20 inauguration as president.
CNN reported on Nov 10 that Trump had offered Republican Representative Elise Stefanik the job of US ambassador to the United Nations
