A former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director who has promised worksite immigration enforcement will serve as the incoming administration’s “border czar,” President-elect Donald Trump announced Sunday.
Tom Homan was acting director of ICE during Trump’s first administration, and Trump said “there is nobody better at policing and controlling our [b]orders.”
Homan, in an interview on 60 Minutes last month, backed Trump’s call for historic deportation operations and said worksites would be a target.
Homan said he doesn’t use the term “raids,” but noted that the Biden administration largely ended wide-scale workplace roundups — “and that’s going to be necessary.”
He said the administration will look for individuals working in the country illegally as well as trafficking victims. Homan also indicated that he would first focus on individuals who pose a threat to public safety or national security.
U.S. workplaces saw a significant uptick in immigration raids during the first Trump administration. Attorneys at the time urged employers to train front-line employees on what to do if ICE shows up at a worksite; and while Form I-9 requirements have changed since then, they also urged employers to audit existing I-9 inventory.