Who is Tom Homan, Trump’s border tsar replacing Greg Bovino in Minneapolis

US President Donald Trump has deployed his “border czar” Tom Homan to lead immigration enforcement on the ground in Minneapolis, after two US citizens were shot dead by federal agents in the city in less than a month.

The White House said Homan, who arrived in Minneapolis on Tuesday, would now be the “primary point of contact on the ground” and would meet with city officials.

It comes as Gregory Bovino, head of the US Border Patrol and the public face of the Trump administration’s mass expulsion campaign in cities across the US, is expected to leave town with some of his agents.

Homan, 64, is considered both a key Trump ally and someone with decades of experience on immigration policy in both Republican and Democratic administrations.

He is also one of the most vocal defenders of Trump’s immigration policy and mass deportation campaign.

A native of upstate New York, Homan began his law enforcement career as a police officer before joining the Border Patrol in 1984 in Southern California.

He joined what was then called the Immigration and Naturalization Service four years later, rising through the ranks of the U.S. immigration service for several years.

In 2013 – during the Obama administration – he held a little-known but influential position leading the enforcement and removal operations branch of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice).

Homan had planned to retire in 2017, just days before the start of the first Trump administration.

A sudden call at his retirement party from new chief of staff John Kelly changed those plans.

“I remember him saying, ‘I know it was bad timing, but the president-elect wanted me to stay and run.’ [ICE]” Homan recalled in an interview last year with the Daily Caller. “Monday morning, I called [Kelly] and I said I wanted to come back.

A similar call, this time from current chief of staff Susie Wiles, brought him out of retirement again in 2024 ahead of the second administration.

Although “border czar” is an informal term and position, it refers to an executive role overseeing border and immigration policy across multiple agencies. It is not confirmed by the Senate and is a political position directly appointed by the sitting president.

So far in Trump’s second term, Homan has been a staunch defender of the president’s overall goals on deportation, pledging to target “the worst of the worst” and challenging the idea that “those who enforce the law are the bad guys and those who break the law are the victims.”

But in practice, immigration enforcement and the attempt to focus on public safety threats have also ensnared other undocumented migrants who don’t have criminal histories — a fact Homan acknowledges and blames on “sanctuary cities” that don’t cooperate with federal immigration efforts. Authorities have said that being in the United States illegally is a crime in itself.

“We’re not going to ask ICE not to arrest [someone] unless there is a serious crime,” he told reporters in July at the White House, where he appears regularly.

“What message does this send to the whole world? Go ahead and enter the country,” Homan added.

In September, the White House quickly came to Homan’s defense after reports emerged that he was a defendant in a corruption case that was ultimately dropped by the Justice Department when Trump returned to office.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described the affair – in which Homan allegedly accepted $50,000 (£36,300) from undercover agents – as an attempt to “entrap” a key Trump ally.

Unlike Homan, Bovino has spent almost his entire law enforcement career in border towns, having first joined the Border Patrol in 1996 and served in various assignments in the United States as well as overseas in Honduras and Africa.

The North Carolina native rose to prominence during Trump’s second term, leading immigration crackdowns in Los Angeles, Chicago, New Orleans and Minneapolis.

Bovino serves as “commanding general” within the Border Patrol – an informal role outside of the organization’s formal hierarchy. Border Patrol is one of several immigration-focused agencies that operate under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Bovino would answer directly to DHS chief Kristi Noem. In his informal role, he works alongside officials like the head of the Border Patrol, a position held by Michael Banks, and the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, a position currently held by Rodney Scott.

Bovino’s tactics have been both controversial, particularly the aggressive “turn and burn” method of making rapid arrests before protesters can arrive in an area.

“We’re going to turn around and burn toward this next target and the next and the next and the next,” he told the AP of the tactic. “We’re not going to stop.”

Bovino also gained a reputation as an official willing to take on lawmakers.

In recent days, for example, Bovino has publicly clashed with lawmakers from both parties who have expressed concerns about his operations in Minneapolis.

Bovino’s replacement with Homan in Minneapolis is seen by some political observers as an acknowledgment from the White House that urgent change was needed amid growing public concern.

In practice, however, this change is unlikely to change the administration’s approach to immigration enforcement.

“Homan has more years in ICE and in domestic law enforcement,” Lora Ries, a former DHS immigration official, told the BBC of her work in many U.S. cities near the border. “It’s no surprise to me.”

Ries, now head of the Border Security and Immigration Center at the conservative-leaning Heritage Foundation in Washington, added that while Homan said he seeks to focus “on the worst, first,” all deportable undocumented migrants will continue to be “on the table.”

For anti-immigration activists, Homan’s career — including fiercely defending Trump’s family separation policy, which led to children being separated from parents residing illegally in the country — also means they see virtually no difference between him and Bovino.

“I’m not sure it means much. Homan is a proponent of career deportation and the architect of family separation,” said Michael Lukens, executive director of the Amica Center, an organization that helps immigrants by providing legal access and services.

“I think the difference is that he is more polite than Bovino. He speaks better to the press and stakeholders,” he added. “He’s better for what they need, someone to portray their actions as not being what they are.”

“It’s much more a question of whether the White House views this as a political issue and not a human one,” Lukens added. “But there is no world in which Homan is moderate.”