President-elect Donald Trump spent much of his campaign attacking Vice President Kamala Harris for her performance in a role that neither she nor anyone in the Biden administration has held: “border czar.” Today, Trump created and filled the position for his new administration.

In a November 10 Truth Social article, Trump announced that Tom Homan would assume this role, putting him in charge of “the southern border, the northern border, all maritime and air security.”

Homan spent more than 30 years working in immigration, including during the first Trump administration. He also recommended Trump is controversial zero tolerance policywhich led to family separations on the southwest border.

In his new role, Homan will carry out one of Trump’s main campaign promises: mass deportations.

“Tom Homan will be in charge of all deportations of illegal aliens to their countries of origin,” Trump’s message said.

Here are some facts about Homan and what we know about how he will execute Trump’s immigration agenda.

Homan began his career in local law enforcement in New York in 1983 Before become a US border patrol agent. Homan too served within the Immigration and Naturalization Service – the precursor to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Homan became head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s deportation unit in 2013, during former President Barack Obama’s second term. During this fiscal year, the agency expelled more than 432,000 people — the most in any fiscal year of Obama’s term and more than in any year of Trump’s presidency.

Obama presented Homan with the 2015 award Distinguished Presidential Rank Award — “the nation’s highest civil service distinction,” awarded by the Department of Homeland Security. statement said, “which is given to leaders who have achieved extraordinary and lasting results.” Immigrant rights advocates have called Obama the “chief deporter”.

In January 2017, Trump appointed Homan, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The Republican-controlled Senate never held a confirmation hearing for Homan. In April 2018, Senate Democrats drafted a letter of complaint to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, noting that the department had not responded to the Senate Homeland Security Committee’s request for information on Homan.

Homan retired of the federal service in 2018.

In June 2019, during a telephone interview with Fox News, Trump said he had named Homan “border tsar”. But Homan never took on such a role.

After leaving his government job, Homan created Border 911, a nonprofit organization that claims to educate “the American people about the realities of an unsecured border.”

In August 2018, Homan became a Fox News contributor. And in February 2022, Homan joined the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, as a visiting scholar. He is listed as a contributor to the group Project 2025a conservative political project for a Republican presidential administration.

As acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homan was among those who proposed the “zero tolerance” policywhich called for the prosecution of adults who entered the United States illegally and leads to separation of the children’s parents. Children were placed in the custody of a sponsor, such as a relative or foster home, or held in a shelter, while the parents faced prosecution.

In a Pulitzer Prize-winning film articleThe Atlantic said Homan suggested the policy while in the Obama administration, but Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson rejected it. He suggested this policy again during the Trump administration.

“I recommended zero tolerance,” to Nielsen and Homan said during a congressional hearing in July 2019.

More than 5,000 children were separated from their parents under the policy. In June 2018, Trump signed an executive order aimed at keeping children and parents together in detention. President Joe Biden’s administration canceled zero tolerance policy.

Will the new Trump administration relaunch the zero tolerance policy?

Homan told “60 Minutes” correspondent Cecilia Vega that he was not aware of any formal political discussions. But when asked if this policy should be on the table, he said: “It definitely needs to be thought about. »

As “border czar,” Homan will report directly to Trump and work in the White House, Homan said in a Nov. 11 WWNY-TV interview. interview.

Unlike other positions, such as secretary of Homeland Security, Homan will not need to go through Senate confirmation. Homan said he would work closely with the Department of Homeland Security and its agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. Asset said on November 11 that he will nominate South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security.

Homan said he would prioritize deporting people who threaten public safety and national security. However, he said anyone staying in the country illegally should not feel comfortable.

“When you enter this country illegally, you have committed a crime,” Homan says. said November 11 on Fox News. “You are a criminal. And you’re not excluded.

Being in the United States without legal authorization is a a civil offense and not a criminal one; crossing the U.S. border illegally is a criminal offense.

Homan too said the Trump administration will conduct immigration raids on workplaces.

He said he would not carry out mass sweeps of neighborhoods or build “concentration camps.” But in April, Trump said Time review that the construction of mass deportation camps was not excluded.

Millions of people live mixed status familiesmeaning people share a home with at least one family member who is in the United States illegally, according to the nonpartisan organization. Migration Policy Institute.

In the “60 Minutes” interview, Vega asked Homan if there was a way to carry out mass deportations without separating families.

“Of course it is,” Homan said. “Families can be deported together. »

This fact check was originally published by PolitiFactwhich is part of the Poynter Institute. See the sources for this fact check here.