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Tom Homan is not the adult in the room

6 0
30.01.2026

Tom Homan, White House border czar, during a news conference at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in St. Paul, Minnesota, US, on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. Homan said the Trump administration will scale down operations in Minnesota and conduct targeted anti-immigration actions. Photographer: Ben Brewer/Bloomberg via Getty Images | Bloomberg via Getty Images

When President Donald Trump announced that border czar Tom Homan would be taking over immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota, many anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement critics, conservatives, and media commentators sighed a breath of relief.

Instead of the firebrand Greg Bovino, Minneapolis would get an adult in the room at last: someone who worked under Democratic and Republican presidents, who had more experience with enforcement operations, and who has been relatively quiet as Trump’s mass deportations have unfolded this year.

Key takeaways

Trump has tasked his “border czar” Tom Homan with handling immigration enforcement in Minneapolis, replacing the Border Patrol official who oversaw the DHS surge to the city that resulted in the killing of two citizens. The move has been greeted by politicians and commentators as a sign that a more serious, less showboaty leader will now be in charge and will deescalate tensions in the city. But Homan himself has a checkered past — and it’s useful to revisit that past as he is lauded.

Homan himself seemed to strike this contrast during his first news conference on Thursday after meeting with state and local leaders this week. “I didn’t come to Minnesota for photo ops or headlines,” he said. “You haven’t seen me.”

Given how outrageous Bovino’s leadership was, how chaotic ICE and Customs and Border Protection’s operations in Minneapolis have been, and how much bad press Trump and Bovino were getting from their own allies, one could be forgiven for believing that anyone would be an improvement.

Still, a closer look at Homan’s record reveals a more complicated — and potentially disturbing — picture.

His actions, his statements, and his prior controversies suggest that he is something other than the moderating “adult in the room” that he has been presented as by the Trump administration.

Is Homan a conciliator who can work with both sides?

Homan’s charge was greeted warmly by Republican lawmakers.

“Tom is the expert’s expert and has dedicated his life to enforcing immigration law and policy in both Democrat and Republican administrations,” South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham remarked online after Trump’s announcement.

“There is no one who........

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