White House border czar Tom Homan deployed to Minnesota on Jan. 26, 2026, to run point on the immigration crackdown in the state. (Jim Watson/Getty Images)
Hamilton worked on immigration policy during Trump’s first term and alongside Homan, and he told Fox News Digital that Homan is the right fit to oversee the Minnesota operation because of his law-and-order approach and record across administrations. Hamilton is now president of America First Legal, after previously working as Trump’s deputy White House counsel during the first half of 2025.
Homan was deployed to the Gopher State on Monday, effectively replacing Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, and is reporting directly to President Donald Trump as he takes the helm of the administration's immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities. His leadership over the operation follows a pair of high-profile shootings involving federal law enforcement that left two Americans dead, and Democrats calling the deaths "murder" while pointing to ICE as a modern-day "Gestapo."
"Tom Homan is a patriot with decades of experience effectively protecting American communities and deporting criminal illegal aliens," White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said when asked about Homan taking the helm of the mission.
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A White House official told Fox News Digital amid the Minnesota leadership shakeup that the administration "has not wavered" from its mission to arrest and deport illegal immigrants, with one official saying that Trump wanted to prevent further violence and work with state and local leaders to remove public safety threats.
Democrats have slammed the broader ICE crackdown as heavy-handed, calling for investigations and tighter restrictions on enforcement tactics after agitators Renee Good and Alex Pretti were fatally shot by law enforcement this month. Senate Democrat Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has echoed that criticism, calling what’s unfolding in Minnesota "appalling" and pressing for new oversight and guardrails on ICE’s conduct as the Trump administration insists the mission remains unchanged and focused on law and order.
"The Trump Administration will never waver in standing up for law and order and protecting the American people," Jackson added in her comment on Homan.
President Barack Obama speaks about immigration reform during a meeting with young immigrants, known as DREAMers, in the Oval Office of the White House on Feb. 4, 2015. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
"Thomas Homan deports people. And he’s really good at it," the Washington Post wrote in an article at the time reporting on the award.
"Homan is the Washington bureaucrat in charge of rounding up, detaining and kicking illegal immigrants out of the country," the article continued. "As Americans fight over whether the next president should build a wall on the Mexico border to keep migrants out or protect millions of them from deportation, Homan is actually hunting undocumented immigrants down right now, setting strategy for 8,000 officers on the front lines."
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Fast-forward to that campaign cycle electing Trump to his first term, Homan was again tapped to help tackle immigration for the Republican president's administration, serving as the acting director in 2017 and 2018.
Then-U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Executive Associate Director for Enforcement and Removal Operations Tom Homan testifies before the House Judiciary Committee in 2014. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Now, the border czar is vowing he won't leave the Twin Cities "until the problem is gone."
Homan publicly suggested that ICE could pull back from direct action in the community if local leaders allow federal agents access to jails to take custody of removable immigrants in a controlled setting, a proposal that effectively turns Minnesota into a test case for whether sanctuary-style resistance can be traded for cooperation on detainers.
He met with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz after arriving to the state, calling the interactions "productive" as he looks to pull back the number of federal agents on the streets to focus on deporting illegal aliens detained in jails.
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"More agents in the jail means less agents in the street," Homan said Thursday. "This is common-sense cooperation that allows us to draw down on the number of people we have here. Yes, I said it: draw down the number of people here because we have the efficiency, the safety of the jails and the prisons."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/from-obama-award-minnesota-op-why-trump-tapped-tom-homan-on-the-ground-crackdown