Thomas Homan

Thomas Douglas Homan (born November 28, 1961) is an American law enforcement officer and political commentator who served as acting director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from January 30, 2017, to June 29, 2018. In November 2024, then president-elect Donald Trump designated Homan as "border czar", whose official title is White House Executive Associate Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations, during Trump's second presidency.

Homan advocates deportation of illegal immigrants and opposes sanctuary city policies. Within the government, he was among the most strident proponents of separating children from their parents as a means of deterring illegal entry into the country. After 2018, he began contributing to Fox News as a commentator.

Early life and education

Homan was born in West Carthage, New York, into a Roman Catholic family. His father and grandfather were West Carthage police officers. He received an associate degree in criminal justice from Jefferson Community College and a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from SUNY Polytechnic Institute.

Early career

In 1983, Homan became a police officer in West Carthage.

In 1984, Homan joined what was then called the US Immigration and Naturalization Service. He served as a United States Border Patrol agent, investigator, and supervisor over a 30-year career. He quickly transferred from the Wellesley Island station to the Texas division and spent five years as a uniformed agent in California and Arizona.

Homan was a supervisor on the Texas border with Mexico in 2003. One incident in Victoria, TX stands out in his mind: the human smuggling case in which 19 illegal immigrants died in the steel box of a tractor trailer which turned into a furnace in the baking hot Texas sun. Along with more than a dozen people, the truck driver was later convicted and is now imprisoned for more than 50 years.

Obama administration (2014–2016)

He was appointed by President Barack Obama as Immigration and Customs Enforcement's executive associate director of enforcement and removal operations in 2013.

By 2014, under the Obama administration, Homan began to argue that separating children from their caregivers would be an effective means of discouraging illegal border crossings. The journalist Caitlin Dickerson describes him as the "intellectual father" of the policy, which he outlined years before it was adopted by the Trump administration. "Most parents don’t want to be separated", Homan told Dickerson. He argued that this fact made separation an effective tool for immigration enforcement: "I’d be lying to you if I didn’t think that would have an effect."

In 2015, Obama awarded him a Presidential Rank Award as a Distinguished Executive. ''The Washington Post'' article at the time stated, "Thomas Homan deports people. And he's really good at it."

First Trump administration (2017–2018)

On January30, 2017, President Donald Trump demoted acting ICE director Daniel Ragsdale to deputy director, a position Ragsdale had already held since May 2012, and appointed Homan as acting director.

In May 2017, Homan announced ICE had arrested 41,319 people between Inauguration Day and the end of April, a 38% increase from the same period the year before. The following month, Homan said that illegal immigrants "should be afraid". He has denied saying "aliens commit more crimes than US citizens."

On November 14, 2017, Trump nominated Homan for ICE director.

In February 2018, Homan said that politicians who support sanctuary city policies should be charged with crimes. In April 2018, he and Kevin McAleenan formally advised Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen to implement the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy on immigration, including the prosecution of parents and the separation of children from their families. Homan participated in the May 2018 press conference announcing that the policy was going into effect. On June5, 2018, Homan appeared for a discussion with the policy director of the Center for Immigration Studies, where he defended the separation of children from their parents.

Homan retired from his position as acting ICE director in June 2018.

Between Trump administrations (2018–2024)

After 2018, Homan began contributing to Fox News as a commentator.

In July 2019, Homan testified before the U.S. House Oversight Committee regarding the Trump administration family separation policy.

Homan published "Defend the Border and Save Lives: Solving Our Most Important Humanitarian and Security Crisis" in March 2020.

In February 2022, Homan joined the Heritage Foundation, and became a contributor to its Project 2025, which proposes mass arrests, detentions and deportations of illegal immigrants across the nation, though his name is not listed on any specific chapter or policy ideas.

On February 25, 2022, Homan was slated as a keynote speaker for the America First Political Action Conference held near Orlando, Florida, but left before the conference began after he learned that the conference's founder Nick Fuentes praised Russian president Vladimir Putin for the invasion of Ukraine.

In November 2022, Homan launched a border-focused project called "Defend the Border and Save Lives" in collaboration with the United West, a Southern Poverty Law Center-designated anti-Muslim hate group. The project, which shares staff and an address with the United West, held a fundraising event at Mar-a-Lago that month, and has been criticized for promoting inflammatory rhetoric about immigration and Muslims.

At a July 2024 National Conservatism Conference meeting, Homan said if "Trump comes back in January, 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." On July17 at the 2024 Republican National Convention, Homan called Biden's immigration policies "national suicide" and told "millions of illegal aliens" to "start packing". Homan said that drug cartels would be designated as terrorist organizations and that Donald Trump would "wipe them off the face of the earth".

Homan received at least $5,000 in consulting fees from GEO Group in the two years before he joined the second Trump administration. GEO Group is the largest prison operator in the United States, with facilities including for-profit private prisons and immigration detention centers.

Border czar (2025–present)

President-elect Trump announced on November10, 2024, that Homan would be joining the incoming administration as the "border czar", whose official title is White House Executive Associate Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations, writing that "Homan will be in charge of all deportation of illegal aliens back to their country of origin." Trump plans on using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 in efforts to deport undocumented immigrants.

In February 2025, Hatewatch reported that Homan met multiple times with Proud Boys associate Terry Newsome. Two of these encounters occurred after the 2024 United States presidential election, presumably to discuss mass deportation. The Southern Poverty Law Center noted that "Homan was also a guest on Newsome’s podcast in October 2024 and was a featured speaker at an anti-immigration event Newsome hosted in Chicago in June 2024."

Also in February 2025, while appearing with New York City mayor Eric Adams on the Fox News program Fox & Friends to discuss Adams' cooperation with ICE on immigration issues, Homan said "If he doesn’t come through, I’ll be back in New York City, and we won’t be sitting on the couch—I’ll be in his office, up his butt, saying, ‘Where the hell is the agreement we came to?"

The same month, Homan got into a dispute with New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over Ocasio-Cortez educating immigrants about their constitutional rights, which Homan claims "impedes" law enforcement. Homan said that he has asked the Department of Justice to investigate whether Ocasio-Cortez's actions are considered to impede ICE and she can potentially be prosecuted, telling Fox News host Laura Ingraham "maybe AOC’s gonna be in trouble now." In response to Homan's comment, Ocasio-Cortez left a mocking response on social media that stated "MaYbe shE’s goiNg to be in TroUble nOw. Maybe he can learn to read. The Constitution would be a good place to start."

In March 2025, two planeloads of people alleged to be Venezuelan gang members by the Trump administration were deported to El Salvador, defying a court order blocking the deportations. Homan told the media that the administration completed the deportations despite the court order, because the court order was made when the planes were above international waters after departing the United States. Homan also declared regarding deportations: "Another flight every day. ..We are not stopping. I don't care what the judges think."

On 17 April 2025, Homan was interviewed by Kaitlan Collins about the deportation of American citizens to foreign prisons. He said that was "out of his lane" and threw the question over to Attorney-General Pam Bondi.

On May 27, Washington Post reported that Homan has disclosed consulting fees from the GEO Group, one of the two publicly traded companies that profit from Trump's remigration policy.

Personal life

Homan has described himself as "a lifelong Catholic", has been described as "a devout mass-goer", and was critical of Pope Francis' position on immigration. He is married to Elizabeth Homan and they have four children together.

References

Notes

External links

ICE profile

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Official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Homan, Tom
1961 births
Living people
American Roman Catholics
First Trump administration personnel
Obama administration personnel
People from Jefferson County, New York
Second Trump administration personnel
SUNY Polytechnic Institute alumni
The Heritage Foundation people
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials
United States Border Patrol agents