Trump announces Tom Homan, former director of immigration enforcement, will serve as ‘border czar’

NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump says that Tom Homan, his former acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director, will serve as “border czar” in his incoming administration.

“I am pleased to announce that the Former ICE Director, and stalwart on Border Control, Tom Homan, will be joining the Trump Administration, in charge of our Nation’s Borders,” he wrote late Sunday on his Truth Social site.

Homan was widely expected to be offered a position related to the border and Trump’s pledge to launch the largest deportation operation in the country’s history.

In addition to overseeing the southern and northern borders and “maritime, and aviation security,” Trump said Homan “will be in charge of all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin,” a central part of his agenda.

He says he had “no doubt” Homan “will do a fantastic, and long awaited for, job.”

Such a role does not require Senate confirmation.

In an interview on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” Homan said the military would not be rounding up and arresting immigrants in the country illegally and that ICE would move to implement Trump’s plans in a “humane manner.”

“It’s going to be a well-targeted, planned operation conducted by the men of ICE. The men and women of ICE do this daily. They’re good at it,” he said. “When we go out there, we’re going to know who we’re looking for. We most likely know where they’re going to be, and it’s going to be done in a humane manner.”

___

Associated Press writer Adriana Gomez Licon in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, contributed to this report.