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Tuesday brought a changing of the guard in the Minnesota immigration crackdown of the Trump administration as Tom Homan arrives to take the lead.

Homan replaces Border Patrol commander at large 

President Donald Trump sought to shake up the effort after public backlash over two U.S. citizens were killed by immigration agents, the federal portrayal of those deaths didn’t stand up to eyewitness and video accounts and clashes on the streets of Minneapolis grew more frequent.

 in New York as a police officer, then became a border patrol agent in 1984 in California. He then climbed the ranks at the former U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, an agency that was dissolved in 2003 after its functions were transferred to three other agencies under the Department of Homeland Security.

Homan began working for ICE when it was created in 2003. President Barack Obama named Homan executive associate director of enforcement and removal operations for ICE in 2013. In 2015, Obama awarded Homan the Presidential Rank Award for Distinguished Service.

During Trump’s first term, he promoted Homan to acting director of ICE.

architect of the family separation policy

, which he proposed under Obama and was able to implement under Trump. He 

 he considered taking children away from their parents as a deterrent. “Most parents don’t want to be separated,” Homan said to her. “I’d be lying to you if I didn’t think that would have an effect.”

 of immigrants were taken from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2018. By 2024, 

 children had still not been reunited with their families, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

, a conservative playbook for the second Trump administration written by the Heritage Foundation. The plan advocates for a 

 including immediately deporting unaccompanied children, more funding for a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico, new fees for asylum seekers and a pause in funding for nongovernmental immigration groups.

, Homan accepted $50,000 in cash from an undercover FBI agent. In exchange for the money, he allegedly promised government contracts related to immigration once he joined the second Trump administration.

 in November 2024 on Truth Social that Homan would join his second administration and take charge of border security, “all Maritime, and Aviation Security,” and “all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin” as “

 to Minnesota to oversee the immigration operation in progress for almost two months. This follows the two fatal shootings of U.S. citizens in January that have soured public opinion on the Trump administration's deportation push.

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Immigration enforcement in Minnesota

Cait Kelley

Author

Tom Homan, a White House adviser to President Donald Trump on immigration and border control issues, is the new face of the administration’s Minnesota deportation campaign.

Mark Schiefelbein | AP

Gregory Bull | AP

Donald Trump,Tom Homan,Pete Hegseth,Dan Caine

Who is Tom Homan, the Trump administration’s new lead on Minnesota immigration crackdown?

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