Nov 11, 2024 - Politics & Policy

Trump's incoming "Border Czar": Deportation plan is "worst first"

Mike Allen

Screenshot from Fox News — Tom Homan *(left)* talks to Fox News' Maria Bartiromo yesterday, along with Scott Bessent, who's on the short list for Treasury Secretary. Screenshot: Fox News

Tom Homan, named Sunday to be President-elect Trump's "Border Czar," said on Fox News this weekend that the new administration's planned deportation operation will target "the worst first" — prioritizing what he called criminal threats and national-security threats.

Homan was acting director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the first Trump administration.

Why it matters: ICE agents will take a pivotal operational role in delivering on Trump's promise to "seal the border" and conduct the "largest deportation operation in American history."

What they're saying: Homan told Maria Bartiromo Sunday on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" that the deportations will be "a well-targeted, planned operation ... by the men of ICE."

"It'll be a humane operation, but it's a necessary mass deportation operation," Homan added.
Homan told The Sunday Times of London: "We're going to concentrate on the worst of the worst ... It's going to be a lot different to what the liberal media is saying it's going to be."

Trump, in announcing Homan's appointment on Truth Social, called him "a stalwart on Border Control."

Trump said there's "nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders. ... Tom Homan will be in charge of all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin."

Go deeper: Trump plans to use 1798 law in mass deportations

Editor's note: This version deletes an incorrect title for Homan's new role.

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Trump's incoming "Border Czar": Deportation plan is "worst first"

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