File photo: Tom Homan (Picture credit: AP)
US President Donald Trump has announced that his border czar, Tom Homan, will be sent to Minneapolis, a city that has emerged as the epicentre of protests against the administration’s immigration enforcement tactics following two fatal shootings involving federal agents this month. Trump on Monday said Homan would report directly to him, describing him as “tough but fair”.The announcement came days after the fatal shooting of Alex Jeffrey Pretti by federal agents, the second such incident in Minneapolis in January. Earlier, Minneapolis resident Renee Good was also shot dead by an ICE agent. In both cases, official explanations by homeland security secretary Kristi Noem were questioned after eyewitness videos appeared to contradict claims that the victims posed an immediate threat.Protests have intensified across the city, with growing calls from both Democrats and Republicans for an independent investigation into ICE operations.
Who is Tom Homan
- Tom Homan, 64, is a veteran immigration enforcement official with nearly four decades of experience.
- He began his career as a US Border Patrol agent in 1984 and later joined Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when the agency was created in 2003 under the Department of Homeland Security.
- Homan rose to prominence as head of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations during the Obama administration, overseeing deportations at a time when removals peaked at 432,000 in 2013.
- He received a Presidential Rank Award in 2015 for his work. Although known for his hardline views, he was seen as a relatively low-profile but influential figure until he became acting ICE director during the early months of Trump’s first term.
- Strongly aligned with Trump’s immigration agenda, Homan has defended aggressive enforcement, including policies that led to family separations.
- “If you’re in the country illegally, you should be concerned,” he told the news agency The Associated Press in a 2018 interview, arguing that enforcement should apply to anyone without legal status.
- After retiring in 2018, Homan remained a vocal critic of then-US President Joe Biden’s immigration policies and returned to government as Trump’s “border czar”, pledging in 2024 to run “the biggest deportation operation this country’s ever seen”.
- While he has said enforcement would prioritise public safety threats and be carried out in a “humane manner”, recent ICE actions in Minnesota have intensified scrutiny of his role as he prepares to take charge on the ground in Minneapolis.
