The impulsive president wants the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Tom Homan, to serve in the newly created “border czar” position so badly that he announced Homan’s appointment before telling Homan. Or, apparently, White House staff.
Homan, who thoroughly enjoyed his former job ripping migrant families apart and deporting them, currently works as a Fox News contributor and cheerleader for Trump’s abusive immigration policies after leaving his post at ICE last year. Trump announced that Homan would become the new border czar on Fox & Friends (where else!) on Friday.
“Tom Homan’s coming back,” Trump said. “He’s going to be very much involved with the border.” Trump added, “He’ll be probably working out of the White House but spending a lot of time at the border.”
According to CNN, Homan was surprised by the president’s statements, and White House officials said details of the position of border czar are still being worked out.
“Talks about the nature of the border czar position are still ongoing, according to one of the officials. Prior to the President’s announcement, aides had not finalized the nature and scope of the role and they had not formally vetted candidates, though Homan’s name has been floated internally,” CNN reported.
According to Politico, Trump offered Homan the job several weeks ago, but Homan turned it down. Homan did not immediately comment about Trump’s announcement, which the president admitted was supposed to happen next week.
Homan, as Splinter previously reported, is a piece of work. He’s worked in immigration enforcement for over three decades, and as an immigration hardliner, he helped boost deportations under the Obama administration. Trump named him acting director of ICE in late 2017. But for reasons that are unclear, his nomination failed to advance in the Senate, and he retired in 2018.
Since then, he’s publicly supported the Trump administration’s policy of separating families at the border, blaming parents for having their kids stripped from them by U.S. authorities. Homan called the administration’s “zero tolerance” policy “unfortunate” and “sad,” but he also called into question whether the countries migrants are fleeing from are truly dangerous. “If they really are escaping fear and persecution, looking for relief in this country, why not come to a port of entry” and apply for asylum, he said in June of last year.
He also once said, “If you’re in this country illegally, and you committed a crime by entering this country, you should be uncomfortable, you should look over your shoulder, and you need to be worried.”
It’s unclear what type of authority the position of border czar would have, given that Congress created the Department of Homeland Security in 2002 to oversee border security, among other responsibilities.
As for Homan, it remains to be seen whether he’s willing to turn Trump down a second time. Let’s hope so, although he’s equally despicable on Fox News.