By Stephen Dinan – The Washington Times – Monday, November 11, 2024

Tom Homan, President-elect Donald Trump’s new border czar, delivered a stern warning to sanctuary cities on Monday by telling them to “get the hell out of the way” as the next administration comes for illegal immigrants.

Appointing Mr. Homan is one of Mr. Trump’s boldest moves as he staffs his administration. He also said he would nominate Rep. Elise Stefanik, the No. 4 House Republican, as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and Stephen Miller as deputy White House chief of staff for policy.

Mr. Miller was an architect of Mr. Trump’s immigration policy in his first term. Naming him and Mr. Homan marks an aggressive start to Mr. Trump’s attempts to resolve the border crisis.

Mr. Trump also, according to multiple reports, has settled on two of the top picks for his foreign policy team: Sen. Marco Rubio for secretary of state and Rep. Michael Waltz for national security adviser.

In an interview with Fox News on Monday, Mr. Homan laid out an expansive effort to carry out Mr. Trump’s mass deportation promises.

He said the administration will start with illegal immigrants who have criminal records or threaten national security. The estimated 1.1 million illegal immigrants who have refused to comply with deportation orders also will be priority targets.

Mr. Homan said sanctuary cities won’t be able to protect illegal immigrants from deportation.

“If sanctuary cities don’t want to help us, then get the hell out of the way. We’re coming,” he said.

Mr. Homan started his career as a Border Patrol agent and served in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement before becoming acting director at the start of the first Trump administration. He was nominated to hold the position in full but met resistance in the Senate and never received a confirmation vote.

In the intervening years, he has advocated for stiffer immigration enforcement and criticized President Biden.

Mr. Trump said he was eager to get Mr. Homan back to work.

“I’ve known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders. Likewise, Tom Homan will be in charge of all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin,” Mr. Trump said in announcing the pick on social media.

Vice President-elect J.D. Vance confirmed Mr. Miller’s selection on social media.

Mr. Miller was a senior adviser to Mr. Trump and served as an architect of what became the calmest border in decades. He was also involved in the attempt to jail parents who jumped the border with children in 2018, which led to the migrant family separations that marred Mr. Trump’s first term.

Mr. Trump also announced Monday that he would nominate former Rep. Lee Zeldin to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Mr. Zeldin doesn’t bring deep environmental experience, but he has been a staunch Trump advocate and said he would use his position to unleash the economy and revive American “energy dominance.”

Mr. Trump said this weekend that he would nominate Ms. Stefanik, one of his more outspoken defenders, as ambassador to the United Nations. In comments to the New York Post, he praised her as “an incredibly strong, tough and smart ‘America First’ fighter.”

The incoming president was reportedly firming up other parts of his national security staff Monday evening.

The New York Times and Reuters news agency each reported that Mr. Rubio, Florida Republican and one of Mr. Trump’s 2016 presidential primary rivals, is his choice for secretary of state. The Times cited “three people familiar with his thinking” but cautioned that “Mr. Trump could still change his mind at the last minute.”

Also on Monday evening, The Associated Press reported that Mr. Trump had asked Mr. Waltz, also a Florida Republican, to be his national security adviser.

Like Mr. Rubio, the retired Army National Guard officer and war veteran is a noted hawk on confronting China.

Ms. Stefanik, Mr. Zeldin and Mr. Rubio will require Senate confirmation. Mr. Homan will not because “border czar” is not a formal position within the federal government. Mr. Waltz won’t either because the national security adviser is a White House staff post over which a president has much more control.

The border czar role will likely mean Mr. Homan serves as the president’s senior adviser on immigration with the authority to coordinate policy among various agencies and ensure the president’s wishes are carried out.

News media and Washington politicians dubbed Vice President Kamala Harris the border czar in 2021 after Mr. Biden gave her the job of trying to slow down the number of people leaving Central America. She resisted the czar label and avoided visiting the U.S.-Mexico border from the summer of 2021 until deep into the presidential campaign this year.

On Monday, Mr. Homan told Fox News that he felt he had to step up after complaining about the Biden administration.

“I would be a hypocrite if I didn’t,” he said.

Mr. Homan said his phone has been inundated with inquiries from former Border Patrol agents and ICE employees excited about his return.

He said he also had “death threats rolling in.”

Mr. Trump has signaled that he wants mass deportations. What that means in practice is still being developed.

Mr. Homan vowed to tackle the drug and migrant smuggling cartels that have turned the border chaos into a multibillion-dollar industry.

“The criminal cartels are going to be put out of business by this president,” Mr. Homan said.

Rep. Delia Ramirez, Illinois Democrat and founder of the Congressional Caucus on Global Migration, said Mr. Homan’s selection is proof that Mr. Trump wants to carry out a “cruel, vile, gruesome” plan for deportations.\

“The Trump administration’s goal is to inflict maximum damage on diverse American families, our children and our communities,” she said.

• Alex Swoyer and Mallory Wilson contributed to this report.

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at [email protected].