White House immigration czar Tom Homan arrived in Minnesota on Tuesday with a clear mandate from President Donald Trump: De-escalate the chaos that has engulfed Minneapolis.
Homan moved quickly. Within hours he was sitting down with Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey – two Democrats who have been at war with the White House over migration enforcement operations – in a bid to cool tensions and reset fractured relations between local readers and federal law enforcement.
‘Tom Homan is a professional,’ Walz told CNN after the meeting in a surprising U-turn, praising what he called a noticeable tone shift from the Trump administration.
Notably, Homan avoided the cameras, working quietly behind the scenes and declining to hold a press conference. The low-key approach marked a sharp contrast to the high-profile tactics that had inflamed protests.
Sources told the Daily Mail it was striking to see Democrats embracing Homan as a calming force, given his long reputation as one of the most unapologetic defenders of mass deportations in Washington. Even more remarkable was the contrast with how the city had reacted to Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino.
Just months ago, Homan had boasted he would run ‘the biggest deportation force this country has ever seen.’
‘They ain’t seen s**t yet. Wait until 2025,’ he told an immigration panel in July of 2024.
Now, a senior administration official says Homan is finally getting his chance to put his own stamp on operations, a moment insiders privately describe as make or break.
President Donald Trump empowered White House Border Czar Tom Homan to handle ground operations in Minnesota
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem during a press conference in Minneapolis
Homan’s deployment is the first time he’s been put on the ground with operational control since he left the first Trump administration as acting ICE director in 2018.
In Trump’s second term, Homan was named the White House immigration czar, but ended up with a role that was more as a spokesperson and an advisor to the president.
Administration immigration hawks will be watching closely to see if the new tone struck by Trump and Homan will result in fewer deportations in Minnesota.
Already, there have been 10,000 arrests of criminal illegal aliens across Minnesota since the start of the Trump administration, a Department of Homeland Security official told the Daily Mail.
Trump’s supporters view Minnesota as the number one testing ground for his promises on immigration.
Now the White House will be watching the numbers closely to see if he can deliver.
‘The question now is can he de-escalate the scene in Minneapolis and at the same time still get the job done,’ a source familiar with the dynamic told the Daily Mail.
But after weeks of chaos in the streets under the direction Commander at Large and border patrol official Greg Bovino, Democrats embraced Homan as a moderating force.
Federal law enforcement officials, a Washington insider told the Daily Mail, were feeling the same way.
‘There’s a sigh of relief amongst agency officials and agents that Homan is taking control after the last year,’ the source said, citing the ‘chaos’ that unfolded on the ground in recent weeks.
Despite his tough rhetoric, Homan has largely been sidelined by Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.
When Trump selected Noem as the head of the Department of Homeland Security, immigration officials were surprised that it was not Homan.
As conversations buzzed around Washington around the president’s unusual choice, it was revealed that Trump had done it as a favor to his long-time advisor Cory Lewandowski, now working for Noem.
At the time, the idea was that Noem would handle the more public facing role of the Department of Homeland Security, such as disaster efforts and security while Immigration Czar Tom Homan would be leading the deportation and immigration, according to people who recalled conversations surrounding Noem’s confirmation.
But that did not end up happening.
Once Noem was confirmed she sidelined Homan and took command with repeated appearances at immigration enforcement operations wearing combat gear and body armor.
Although her critics mocked Noem as ‘ICE Barbie’ on social media, Trump loved it, and frequently praised her public appearances on social media and to members of his staff.
Noem appointed several experts to the agency that have intentionally shaken up the status quo to deliver better results.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller has empowered her efforts, as part of his quest for more deportations and tougher enforcement.
That rubbed some more seasoned officials the wrong way, who view Noem and her people with suspicion and fear.
But Noem boasted big results, marking Trump’s one-year anniversary by announcing that more than 675,000 illegal immigrants had been deported and an estimated 2.2 million had ‘self-deported’ as a result of his immigration policies.
Trump has little patience for the infighting between Noem and Lewandowski and Homan, repeatedly demanding that they end the drama, sources say. The president views them on the same team with the same mission.
Federal agents stand near police tape as demonstators gather near the site of where state and local authorities say a man was shot by federal agents
White House border czar Tom Homan responds to critics in an interview
The president repeated his support for Noem on Tuesday but also gave the highest praise for Homan’s expertise.
His defended his decision to send in Homan as part of his leadership style.
‘I do that all the time. I shake up teams,’ he said to reporters in Iowa. ‘We have a great team.’
But the chaotic scenes in Minneapolis threatened the president’s success as the riots against immigration officials escalated for weeks in Minneapolis.
That would have bothered Homan, sources told the Daily Mail.
Homan’s philosophy is to focus primarily on catching and deporting the ‘worst of the worst.’ If agents cross illegal immigrants on the way they are picked up as well.
A seasoned immigration official who helped lead deportations for past presidents and even during President Barack Obama’s administration, Homan was well aware about the dangers of bad public optics.
Homan was famously awarded the Presidential Rank Award for distinguished service by Obama and was prominently featured in a Washington Post article for his efforts.
‘We don’t do schoolhouse raids or neighborhood raids. We don’t show up with bulletproof vests,’ Homan told the Post in the nearly ten-year-old interview. ‘I’m not ashamed of what I do.’
Homan has that article framed in his office, not only as a reminder of his long record, but also the disappointing change in tone toward immigration enforcement since he left government service.
At the White House podium, press secretary Karoline Leavitt hoisted both the picture of former President Obama awarding Homan the medal but also the Washington Post headline from years ago.
That confidence would continue, she said, under President Trump.
‘He’s obviously very qualified, he has the full trust and faith of the president,’ she said.
