海角大神

Tom Homan, the 鈥渂order czar鈥� handpicked by President Donald Trump, has arrested, detained, and deported unauthorized immigrants since 1984. Friends call him loyal. Critics have likened him to a Nazi; he counters that the agency he once led deported real ones.

Mr. Homan is positioned to play an integral role in shaping the Trump administration鈥檚 crackdown on illegal immigration. President Trump elevated him to a top White House post and tasked him with being 鈥渋n charge鈥� of border security and deportation efforts that have already begun.

Mr. Homan鈥檚 role doesn鈥檛 require Senate confirmation, and he鈥檒l need to work with others like Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. But the president has given him strong backing. 鈥淚 have no doubt he will do a fantastic, and long awaited for, job,鈥� Mr. Trump said on Truth Social.

The border czar and the president are like-minded on illegal immigration, says Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies. 鈥淚f anything, I think Tom Homan鈥檚 understanding of this issue has informed Donald Trump鈥檚 鈥� not the other way around.鈥�

In philosophy, though, there appears to be a sliver of difference between the men. The president largely speaks of unauthorized immigrants as endangering the nation. Mr. Homan adds that, by crossing in illegally, they鈥檙e also endangering themselves.

Mr. Homan鈥檚 outlook, shaped over three decades, comes in part from witnessing despair at the border. The country鈥檚 next immigration chapter may well be shaped by his hard-line plans.

Why he鈥檚 focused on consequences

Mr. Homan has a pugilistic air. A fixture of conservative TV, he鈥檒l often raise his voice. He cites immigration law, in favor of more enforcement. Sometimes he鈥檒l curse.

鈥淚f you don鈥檛 want to help us, then just get the hell out of the way,鈥� he says of uncooperative local politicians. And if they impede, 鈥淭here will be consequences.鈥�

He often speaks of consequences.

Not just for 鈥渟anctuary鈥� jurisdictions and immigrants who don鈥檛 abide by laws. But also for the country, with the entry of drugs and criminals that he says the last White House left unchecked.

鈥淭he gruff exterior that you see on TV is how he is in person,鈥� says John Fabbricatore, a former Immigration and Customs Enforcement official in Colorado who knows the border czar. 鈥淗e demands excellence from the people that work for him. But he鈥檚 also very loyal.鈥�

Mr. Homan grew up 40 miles south of Canada, in West Carthage, New York, along with six siblings. In high school, he wrestled. He describes his family as 鈥渧ery conservative and very Catholic,鈥� filling the same pew each Sunday Mass.

After a stint in community college, he graduated with honors from SUNY Polytechnic Institute in 1983 with a bachelor of professional studies in criminal justice. Mr. Homan served in his town鈥檚 police force after that. His father and grandfather also served in law enforcement.

In 1984, he began working for the U.S. Border Patrol, then as a special agent. In Texas, he helped set up an undercover operation that he says ensnared 11 smuggling groups. He鈥檇 find migrants stashed in the back of stiflingly hot and crowded tractor-trailer rigs, desperate to head north.

In the sweltering Texas heat, it could be 20 or 50 degrees hotter in the back of those trucks, Mr. Homan told a newspaper in 2001. 鈥淭he more they use these trucks, the greater the chance for tragedy.鈥�

His words foretold a tragedy that would change his life.

In May 2003 in Victoria, Texas, a smuggling scheme inside a tractor trailer turned deadly in extreme heat. Nineteen unauthorized immigrants died.

Mr. Homan, then working with what is now ICE, assisted the investigation. He noticed a boy inside, around the same age as his youngest son, lying dead in his underwear. It seemed the boy鈥檚 father, also dead, had tried to embrace him in their last moments alive.

That experience 鈥渕ade Tom Homan who he is today,鈥� he writes in his book 鈥淒efend the Border and Save Lives.鈥�

For four nights, he says, he couldn鈥檛 sleep. The grim images would fuel what appears to have become his philosophy of deterrence: Remove migrants鈥� desire to arrive illegally in the first place. Preempt the grief.

That perspective doesn鈥檛 always consider the civil unrest and other violence driving many asylum-seekers to flee their homes, from places like Haiti and Venezuela. Still, Selene Rodriguez, a campaign director at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, says it鈥檚 incorrect to assume that being pro-border security is also anti-humanitarian.

鈥淓verybody who comes through Mexico to get to the U.S.-Mexico border has to go through some sort of a cartel network,鈥� she says. That exposes migrants to potential assault, rape, and murder. 鈥淣o human being wants anybody to go through something like that.鈥�

Mr. Homan says he went to therapy after witnessing the tractor trailer deaths. He continued his job, rising in the ranks.

Working under presidents from both parties

Under the Obama administration, Mr. Homan served as executive associate director for enforcement and removal operations at ICE. Then-Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson says he called on Mr. Homan as part of a core group of advisers who held varying points of view.

He was 鈥渁 trusted voice,鈥� says Secretary Johnson. While reliably pro-enforcement, Mr. Homan came to meetings 鈥渁rmed with facts, armed with experience and wisdom.鈥�

During this era, Central American children and families were arriving en masse. At one point, Mr. Homan presented the idea of separating migrant families at the border, Secretary Johnson recalls. The DHS leader also recalls saying no.

Secretary Johnson visualized 鈥渢rying to take a small child out of its mother鈥檚 arms,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd I just wasn鈥檛 going to do that.鈥�

Still, the administration expanded detention for unauthorized migrant families. President Barack Obama, nicknamed the 鈥渄eporter in chief,鈥� gave Mr. Homan the country鈥檚 highest award for civil service in 2015.

After three decades, Mr. Homan retired from government in January 2017.

Then came a phone call at his retirement party. Would he consider coming back for Donald Trump?

Family separation

Mr. Homan put off retirement for a man he calls 鈥渢ruly a friendly, caring, and honest person,鈥� as he writes in his 2020 book.

During the first Trump term, as acting director of ICE, Mr. Homan was an architect of one of its most controversial immigration policies.

鈥淜ids in cages,鈥� Democrats called it.

Mr. Homan has said he suggested the 鈥渮ero tolerance鈥� policy, which resulted in separating children from their parents at the southern border as a deterrent to illegal crossings. The result was thousands of traumatized minors and adults, immigrant advocates say. The American Civil Liberties Union helped arrange reunifications.

鈥淥ften the child comes back and the first words out of their mouth are, Mommy, Daddy, why didn鈥檛 you love me enough to keep me?鈥� says Lee Gelernt, an ACLU attorney.

Family separation was 鈥渢he worst thing鈥� that Mr. Gelernt says he has seen in three decades of work. It鈥檚 one of several high-profile court challenges that he argued against the first Trump administration. That case ended in a court-ordered settlement agreement in 2023, barring the practice for eight years. The ACLU estimates as many as 1,000 families are still separated from their children.

Incoming officials involved in family separation the first time have expressed 鈥渞eally no recognition that the policy was brutal and inhumane,鈥� says Mr. Gelernt.

Mr. Homan has said he鈥檚 鈥渟ick and tired鈥� of hearing about family separation.

The adviser has said that ICE will look to bring back family detention in 鈥渟oft-sided鈥� tent setups. It鈥檚 unclear whether some form of family separation will evolve under the current administration.

鈥淔amilies can be deported together,鈥� he told 鈥�60 Minutes鈥� in October.

The White House last week聽announced聽that ICE arrested 11,000 鈥渃riminals鈥� in an 18-day period. According to a聽recent estimate, around 13.7 million unauthorized immigrants lived in the U.S. as of mid-2023.聽Along the border with Mexico, Border Patrol encounters 鈥� a proxy for illegal crossings 鈥� dropped to around 29,100 last month. That鈥檚 the lowest since May 2020.

Mr. Homan鈥檚 words 鈥� and the president鈥檚 plans 鈥� send a chilling message to many immigrants.

鈥淚鈥檓 keeping my kids home from school, because I鈥檓 scared鈥� of deportation, says a Venezuelan mother, bundled up against the cold at a pro-immigrant rally in Aurora, Colorado, last month. Since the summer, the city has drawn national scrutiny for crimes that officials have linked to suspected members of a Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua.

Mr. Homan鈥檚 words for that group? 鈥淢y gang鈥檚 bigger than your gang.鈥�

In Chicago recently, he viewed an early wave of ICE arrests. He says the agency has 鈥済ot to do more.鈥�

Part of that, in his view, involves communicating results with the American public. Mr. Homan once told The Washington Post that he started every day reading media reports about immigration. And what he read frustrated him: 鈥淧eople don鈥檛 understand what we do or how we do it.鈥�

To that end, he has called for the need for weekly press briefings. Those have not yet started.

鈥淲e need to show the American people we can do this and not be inhumane about it,鈥� he has said. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 lose the faith of the American people.鈥�

Editor's note: This story was updated Feb. 18, the same day it was published, to include newly released Department of Homeland Security data on border encounters in January.