EAGLE PASS, Texas — President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be “border czar” visited the U.S.-Mexico border on Tuesday, and he vowed to fulfill Trump's campaign promise of mass deportations.
Tom Homan, a former police officer and immigration official, visited Eagle Pass, Texas, alongside Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and served meals to Texas National Guard soldiers and Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers. Homan said it was his first time visiting Shelby Park, which has been a sort of headquarters for Abbott’s Operation Lone Star–a multibillion-dollar state border security mission.
At the event, Homan praised Abbott for his border security efforts utilizing the Texas National Guard and DPS troopers.
“This is a model we can take across the country,” Homan said.
Homan criticized the Biden administration’s handling of the border and praised Trump for his border security measures during his first term. He also reiterated a Trump campaign promise of mass deportations.
“Let me be clear: There is going to be a mass deportation because we just finished a mass illegal immigration crisis on the border,” Homan said, according to a CBS News report.
Homan also said that Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, “gets it” and “has a lot of great ideas.”
Abbott and Homan also sat down for a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity, where they discussed their hopes for a Trump administration tackling immigration.
Abbott said he hopes that Trump will use the military to help with deportations.
“The military are doing things like building border barriers that deny entry. And so there is a very meaningful role for the military in this situation,” Abbott said in the interview. “And it’s something that we are expecting and hoping that President Trump will use because here’s the deal. In my opinion, we don’t have enough ICE agents. We don’t have enough Border Patrol agents. We need as much manpower as we can get right now because it’s all hands on deck for us to be able to deny illegal entry and to deport all those who are here illegally.”
Trump has posted in recent days that he plans to declare a “national emergency” so he can use “military assets” for his mass deportation program.
During the Fox News interview, Hannity asked Homan about how the Trump administration will respond to mayors and other local officials in Democratic-run cities if they don’t comply with Trump’s immigration policies.
“We are going to enforce the law, period. And they are not going to stop us,” Homan said.
Homan was asked specifically about remarks from Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, who said earlier this week he will protect undocumented immigrants in his city from mass deportations and is willing to go to jail over the matter.
“He’s willing to go to jail. I’m willing to put him in jail,” Homan retorted.
Homan served as the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement during Trump’s first term.