By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-11 17:29:07 | Updated at 2024-11-18 04:22:58
6 days ago
The man tapped by Donald Trump to enact his clampdown on rampant illegal immigration in the U.S. said Monday he is ready for Democrats decrying the get-tough action, declaring: 'I don’t care what people think of me.'
Tom Homan, Trump's newly-picked 'border czar,' said he will make it a priority to 'secure the border and do this deportation operation.'
'I think the calling is clear,' Homan said on Fox & Friends. 'I've got to go back and help.'
'I'm pissed off with what [the Biden] administration did to the most secure border in my lifetime, so I'm going to go back and do what I can to fix it,' he added.
The president-elect said during his campaign for a second term that he would carry out the largest number of deportations ever to clear the country of illegal immigrants after the border remained wide open during President Joe Biden's administration.
Homan, who has been credited with implementing child separation policies, is a key part of Trump's plan and will carry out his hawkish border policies.
Former Acting ICE Director Tom Homan defended Donald Trump's plan to carry out mass deportations after being named the new 'border czar'
'I've been clear, President Trump's been clear. Public safety threats and national security threats will be the priority because they have to be – they pose [the] most danger in this country,' Homan said.
'So we're going to prioritize those groups.'
Trump announced in a Truth Social post on Sunday that Homan would succeed Vice President Kamala Harris as the new 'border czar.'
The position does not require Senate confirmation and would make him part of the White House staff.
Homan, a contributor on Fox News and fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said he has 'complained, yelled and screamed' for years about what the Biden administration did to implement policies that allowed proliferation of mass illegal immigration and human and drug trafficking.
He also said he has proposed ways to fix it.
'So when the president asked me, 'Would you come back and fix it?' Of course. I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't,' Homan explained. 'I'm honored the president asked me to come back and help solve this national security crisis, so I'm looking forward to it.'
'I know exactly what I'm doing, and this is the second time I've come out of retirement for this president, because it matters,' Homan continued.
'I was a Border Patrol agent, I wore that uniform, and I'm proud that I wore that uniform. I was an ICE agent. I was the first ICE director that came up through the ranks, so the 20,000 men and women that worked for me, I didn't ask them to do anything I wouldn't do myself, because I was one of them.'
Tom Homan speaks with Border Patrol agents near the southern border wall in San Ysidro, California on May 7, 2018
Homan's 'border czar' post is one of the first positions Trump announced he was filling just days after winning the 2024 presidential election
Homan was one of the first positions filled as Trump continues to roll out announcements for who will fill out his staff.
And to underscore the importance of addressing the illegal immigration crisis, Trump is also bringing in Stephen Miller as his deputy chief of staff for policy.
Miller is known as being a hardliner on southern border migration.
Trump's senior campaign adviser Susie Wiles was tapped to be the first-ever female Chief of Staff and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) was announced as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations after Trump said he wouldn't bring back Nikki Haley.
