On Tuesday, President Donald Trump picked immigration hardliner Tom Homan as the new permanent director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Homan has already served in the position, in an acting capacity, for the last ten months. He has run the agency since the resignation, in January, of Sarah Saldana, who was appointed during the Obama administration.
Homan has been the public face of the new, tougher administration and has been tough-talking and unapologetic about the crackdowns on border security and immigrants, initiated under Trump. At the conservative Heritage Foundation in October, Homan said that he is often asked how he can send home immigrants who have lived in the US for decades. He said his answer is simple, that it is never all right to break the law, and that the border crisis will never be solved if enforcement is treated with a lackadaisical attitude that sees some people getting a free pass.
The White House announced the nomination without fanfare, merely giving formal notice that Homan’s name was being sent to the Senate by the President. The White House had two days left to name Homan before he would have been unable to continue as acting director, and the Senate still has to approve the nomination.
Homan has repeatedly made it clear that no undocumented immigrants are exempt from the stricter approach brought to immigration enforcement by the Trump administration, and made it a priority to find and deport criminal immigrants.