HOMAN AND NOEM WILL DRIVE BORDER AGENDA: TED CRUZ
Billal Rahman, Newsweek, 13 November 2024
Texas Senator Ted Cruz said former ICE Director Tom Homan, recently nominated as President-elect Donald Trump’s “border czar,” will be the key figure in “driving” immigration policy at the southern border, rather than incoming Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. With Stephen Miller, who was appointed Deputy Chief of Policy, Trump has appointed a trio of hardliners to key posts that will play a frontline role in shaping immigration policy, making them crucial to his administration’s potential success or failure.
Immigration was key to Trump’s winning campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris and was instrumental in fueling his comeback victory last week. Cruz said he is “very happy” with the appointments and praised Homan and Noem on the latest episode of his podcast, Verdict. “Tom Homan cares passionately about defending the nation and securing our borders, the senator said.
“Homan and Noem will work hand in hand. They will be very effective. [Homan] understands the border and what it takes to secure the border. I think he will be the point person driving the agenda. We are going to secure the border; it won’t take a year; it won’t take six months. It will be done by January and February next year.”
Newsweek reached out to Tom Homan for comment via a contact form on his website.
The Trump administration’s plan to position Homan, the former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director, as the primary architect of this agenda has been met with a wave of criticism from advocacy groups. In response to Noem’s and Homan’s appointments, a spokesperson for immigrant advocacy group No More Deaths told Newsweek that Homan is a “rabid anti-immigrant extremist.”