A Note From Kyle Reyes, The Owner of Law Enforcement Today: In this article, you're going to read about the leadership and skillset of Border Czar Tom Homan. And Mathew Silverman is right - Tom is EXACTLY the leader America needs right now.
But first... I'd like to talk to you as a husband and a father about Tom Homan's character.
Transparently, I consider Tom to be a personal friend. I know the man's heart. I've prayed with him. I fight for him. And I'd trust him with the lives of my wife and my children - which is why America should trust him as well. But I want to give you one specific example.
This past November, we hosted the first annual Big Blue Bash at Mar a Lago. We presented awards to the heads of federal agencies, high profile veterans and celebrities. But one special presentation changed EVERYTHING that night.
Tom Homan and ICE Director Lyons, along with DHS Secretary Noem, honored a little 9-year-old girl as the "woman of the year". That little girl held the hand of her 4-year-old sister as she died - killed by an illegal immigrant. As the girl passed, her older sister just kept saying "I love you".
On stage... as Tom honored this sweet little girl... his voice cracked. His eyes filled. And the very real grandfather... the man who desperately believes in protecting ALL children - including the ones abandoned at the border... and especially the ones TRAFFICKED under Joe Biden and the Democrats... came out.
I'm sharing the below video with you because America needs to see the heart of the man I call my friend. THEN you need to hear about why there's nobody better suited to help President Trump restore law and order than Tom.
By Mathew Silverman, National President of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA)
With President Trump’s decision to send Tom Homan to Minnesota to take direct oversight of federal immigration operations, the media narrative has quickly become more political than factual. To understand what is actually happening, and why Homan was chosen, it is important to separate career history from political spin.
Tom Homan is not a political appointee who arrived from outside government. He is a career law enforcement professional who began his career as a police officer in New York before joining the U.S. Border Patrol in 1984. He later became an investigator with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), the predecessor agency to ICE.
When the Department of Homeland Security was created in 2003 and ICE was formed, Homan continued his career in federal service and steadily rose through the ranks. He served in investigative leadership roles in Texas before moving to ICE headquarters, where he eventually became Executive Associate Director for Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), the agency’s top enforcement position.
Importantly, Homan held his most senior enforcement leadership roles during the Obama administration. In 2015, President Obama awarded him the Presidential Rank Award for Distinguished Service, one of the highest honors given to career Senior Executive Service officials. The White House at the time specifically credited his leadership in expanding enforcement operations and detention capacity during a major humanitarian and border crisis.
Homan did not serve as ICE Director under President Obama. He served as the top career enforcement official. He was later appointed Acting Director of ICE during President Trump’s first term from 2017 to 2018.
In November 2024, President Trump announced that Homan would return to government service in his second administration to oversee border security, deportation operations, and related enforcement missions as “Border Czar.” That appointment was widely expected given Homan’s unique experience running large-scale national enforcement operations.
Why Minnesota?
President Trump announced on January 26 that Homan would be sent to Minnesota to oversee the ongoing federal operation there after a series of violent and chaotic incidents, including two fatal shootings of U.S. citizens and escalating unrest in Minneapolis. The situation on the ground had become unstable, politicized, and operationally complex.
When situations deteriorate into multi-agency, high-risk, politically sensitive operations, administrations do not send communications staff or political advisors. They send experienced operational commanders.
That is what Tom Homan is.
The media narrative has focused heavily on the family separation policy. The factual record is more complex. The legal framework that allowed family separation existed long before the Trump administration. Homan has openly stated that he supported using separation as a deterrent, and that policy was implemented during Trump’s first term. The policy was later ended, and its consequences have been widely debated.
Reasonable people can disagree about that policy. But it is also a fact that Homan’s entire career, including his highest professional recognition, was built under both Democratic and Republican administrations based on enforcement leadership, operational management, and crisis response.
It is also important to be honest about what federal officers are dealing with in Minnesota right now. Protests have escalated into riots. Officers have been injured. Property has been destroyed. A hotel housing federal agents was attacked. Lawful federal operations are being physically obstructed.
That is not “de-escalation.” That is disorder.
Sending Homan is not about symbolism. It is about command and control.
He has managed:
- National-scale enforcement surges
- Multi-jurisdictional operations
- Politically sensitive crisis environments
- Complex detention and removal logistics
- Interagency coordination at the highest levels
Whatever one thinks of the broader immigration debate, the idea that Minnesota does not need experienced federal operational leadership right now is detached from reality. The situation has already proven that it requires precisely the kind of command presence Homan brings.
The bottom line is simple. Tom Homan is not a media character. He is a career enforcement professional who has served under both parties, received the highest career service awards in government, and has spent four decades managing some of the most complex law enforcement missions in the federal system.
He was not sent to Minnesota to make things louder.
He was sent there to restore order.
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