Tom Homan, US President Donald Trump’s border czar.
Credit: Reuters Photo
President Donald Trump said he was sending Tom Homan, his border czar, to Minnesota to run immigration enforcement operations in the state on Monday, two days after a man was fatally shot there by Department of Homeland Security officers.
The decision to send Homan, a longtime veteran of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, came amid increased criticism of the DHS operation in the state and its rushed response to the shooting of the man, Alex Pretti, who was pinned down by agents when he was killed.
“I am sending Tom Homan to Minnesota tonight,” Trump wrote on social media on Monday. “He has not been involved in that area, but knows and likes many of the people there. Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me.”
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, detailed Homan’s mandate in the state in her own post. “Tom Homan will be managing ICE Operations on the ground in Minnesota to continue arresting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens,” she wrote.
Homan has extensive ties at ICE. He led the agency’s deportation wing during the Obama administration, saying at the time that he supported its efforts to target serious criminals in the country illegally.
Years later, he was tapped to be the agency’s acting director during the first Trump administration. Homan, along with two other senior leaders, recommended a policy that led to the separation of families along the border in 2018.
As border czar, Homan has taken on a communications role. He often appears on television or holds gaggles with reporters outside the White House, spreading the message of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and offering public defenses of its tactics.
Running the operations on the ground has mostly been the responsibility of Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, along with other agency leaders, including Gregory Bovino, who has overseen Border Patrol operations across the country.
Noem praised the decision to send Homan to Minnesota in a social media post. “This is good news for peace, safety, and accountability in Minneapolis,” she wrote.