After winning a second term, Donald Trump wasted little time in making a series of personnel announcements, and one of president-elect’s first decisions was also one of the most controversial: The Republican said Tom Homan, the former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, will be the incoming administration’s “border czar.”
For those concerned about the incoming Republican president’s vision for an immigration crackdown, the choice was unsettling. As Rachel recently explained on the show, Homan is largely considered an architect of Trump’s policy to tear children away from their parents at the border. He also happens to be one of the Republicans who helped write the right-wing Project 2025 blueprint.
At a radical rally in Pennsylvania in the runup to Election Day, Homan also publicly vowed, “I will run the biggest deportation operation this country has ever seen.”
That’s not, however, the only thing on Homan’s mind. The Washington Post reported:
President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming “border czar,” Tom Homan, suggested that mayors who don’t help the administration deport undocumented immigrants in their cities could face criminal charges. Homan, former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Friday on Fox News that existing laws could be wielded against city officials if cities don’t commit to aiding federal officials in their efforts to mass deport millions of people. He specifically referred to the federal criminal charge of impeding a federal officer.
Asked whether the incoming administration is prepared to bring charges against local officials, Homan replied, “If they step over that line.” He added, “[T]here are laws on the books that we will prosecute.”
As part of the on-air interview, Homan specifically pointed to the mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson.
What’s more, the future “border czar” — whose position does not require Senate confirmation — has been making comments like these quite a bit lately.
For example, about a week after being tapped for his upcoming position, Homan appeared on Fox News and threatened local officials with prosecution unless they cooperate with the Trump administration’s mass deportation plans. Six days later, he returned to Fox News and suggested Denver mayor Mike Johnston would be among his potential prosecutorial targets.
Soon after, Homan said in reference to Chicago’s mayor, “I will prosecute him,” before reiterating the point late last week. There’s no shortage of problems associated with such rhetoric, but I’m reminded of something Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said last week. “Being a ‘border czar’ is not an official position in the government,” the Democrat said. It’s an underappreciated detail. I realize that Homan has an ambitious to-do list, but when he makes comments such as, “I will prosecute him,” it’s worth noting that he’ll have about as much prosecutorial authority in the next administration as I do — which is to say, none. Homan might like the idea of arresting state and local officials who disagree with him, but officials might be more intimidated if the incoming “border czar” had some authority as a law enforcement official. He will not.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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