President-elect Donald Trump said he will install Tom Homan, the former acting head of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, as a "border czar" with oversight over immigration, maritime and aviation security.
"I've known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders," Trump said in a social media post Sunday. "Likewise, Tom Homan will be in charge of all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin."
Homan was the public face of Trump's "zero tolerance" immigration policies during his first term, 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, 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 neighborhoods. It's not going to be building concentration camps. I've read it all. It's ridiculous," 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 executive authorities to scale back pathways for migrants to apply for asylum.
The choice of Homan also suggests that participation in the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 won't prevent people from getting appointed to jobs in Trump's administration. 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 don't 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 efforts to oversee a portfolio addressing the root causes of migration from Central America.
