Trump Announces Tom Homan Will Serve as ‘Border Czar’

NEW YORK— President-elect Donald Trump says Tom Homan, his former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, will serve as “border czar” in his new administration.

“I am pleased to announce that former ICE director and longtime Border Patrol stalwart Tom Homan will be joining the Trump administration in charge of the nation’s borders,” he wrote late Sunday on his Truth Social site.

Homan was widely expected to take a position related to the border and Trump’s promise to launch the largest deportation operation in the country’s history.

In addition to overseeing the southern and northern borders and “maritime and aviation security,” Trump said Homan “will be responsible for all deportations of illegal aliens back to their countries of origin,” a central part of his agenda.

He said he had “no doubt” that Homan “will do a fantastic, long-awaited job.”

Such a role does not require Senate confirmation.

In an interview on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” Homan said the military would not round up and arrest immigrants in the country illegally and that ICE would take action to carry out Trump’s plans in a “humane manner.”

‘It will be a targeted, planned operation, carried out by the men of ICE. The men and women of ICE do this every day. They are good at it,” he said. “When we go there, we’ll know who we’re looking for. We most likely know where they will be, and it will be done in a humane manner.”

Earlier this year, Homan expressed his frustration at the National Conservatism Conference in Washington over reports of a mass deportation operation.

“Wait until 2025,” he said, adding that while he believes the government should prioritize national security threats, “no one is off the table. If you are here illegally, you better look over your shoulder.”

He also said, “You have my word. Trump is coming back in January, I will be on his heels and I will lead the largest deportation operation this country has ever seen.”

Colvin writes for the Associated Press. Associated Press writer Adriana Gomez Licon in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, contributed to this report.