U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has appointed Tom Homan, former head of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as the ‘Border Czar’ in his upcoming administration. During his campaign, Trump pledged to implement the largest deportation program in U.S. history, aiming to remove all undocumented immigrants, estimated to number around 14-15 million. In a statement on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump announced that Homan will manage all U.S. land, maritime, and aerial borders and oversee the deportation of “all illegal aliens back to their country of origin.”
“I’ve known Tom for a long time, and there’s no one better suited to secure and manage our borders. Tom Homan will also oversee the deportation of all illegal immigrants back to their countries of origin. Congratulations to Tom—I am confident he’ll do an outstanding job, which has been awaited for a long time,” said Trump.
Illegal immigration emerged as a central issue in Trump’s successful campaign against Democratic rival Kamala Harris. Although Trump and his supporters frequently used disinformation and racist stereotypes to promote their anti-immigration stance, the campaign also tapped into widespread, often bipartisan concerns in the United States about the ongoing influx of undocumented immigrants across the Mexican border and the crimes sometimes linked to it.
