(The Center Square) – President-elect Donald Trump has named former Immigration and Customs Enforcement director Tom Homan as his border czar and U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., as the next ambassador to the United Nations.
Both picks have been vocal critics of the Biden-Harris administration’s immigration and foreign policy actions.
“I am pleased to announce that the Former ICE Director, and stalwart on Border Control, Tom Homan, will be joining the Trump Administration, in charge of our Nation’s Borders (‘The Border Czar’), including, but not limited to, the Southern Border, the Northern Border, all Maritime, and Aviation Security,” Trump said in a statement. “I’ve known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our borders. Likewise, Tom Homan will be in charge of all deportation of illegal aliens back to their country of origin. Congratulations to Tom. I have no doubt he will do a fantastic, and long awaited for, job.”
Homan, 62, worked for ICE under six presidential administrations, both Democrats and Republicans. He began his career in 1984 as a Border Patrol agent, then special agent, rising through the ranks over the next three decades to become the first director of ICE who came up through the ranks. He also received the highest civil service recognition of Presidential Rank Award from former President Barack Obama.
Homan plans to reinstate border policies implemented by Trump who, when president, brought illegal border crossings down to historic levels. President Joe Biden, on his first day in office, unraveled those policies, leading to the greatest national security crisis since 9/11, Homan has argued, The Center Square first reported.
“President Biden is the first president to ever un-secure a border on purpose. He was handed the most secure border in our nation’s history,” Homan has argued. In order to re-secure the border and target national security threats, he says his plan is to prioritize deporting violent criminals, those released into the country from countries of concern, are on the terrorist watchlist, and those with existing deportation orders. He also opposes sanctuary city policies that prohibit local law enforcement from cooperating with ICE.
“The only conclusion to draw at this point is that this crisis was intentional,” Homan said at a U.S. House Committee hearing in January.
Trump’s pick for ambassador to the U.N. has intensely criticized the administration, even calling for a “complete reassessment” of U.S. funding to the “organization that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have allowed to rot with antisemitism.”
Stefanik, 40, graduated from Harvard and worked as a staff member during the George W. Bush administration before getting elected to the House in 2014, where she served on the Armed Services Committee. She has also served as chair of the House Republican Conference since 2021 following the removal of former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., due to her antagonism towards Trump.
“I am honored to nominate Chairwoman Elise Stefanik to serve in my Cabinet as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Elise is an incredibly strong, tough, and smart America First fighter,” Trump said in a statement Monday.
Stefanik has become most well-known in recent years for her condemnation of the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of the southern border and her strong support of Israel during the war in Gaza. She co-sponsored a House resolution condemning Vice President Kamala Harris’ performance as border czar, and grilled university leaders in 2023 over their responses to antisemitic activities by university students and faculty.
Stefanik has shifted to the right during her time in Congress, scoring as the 165th most bipartisan House member on the Bipartisan Index in 2023, compared to her score as the 14th most bipartisan member in 2019.
In 2017, Stefanik criticized Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement and his temporary ban on travel and immigration by nationals from seven Muslim countries. She voted against the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and opposed the repeal of Obama-era net-neutrality climate measures.
Stefanik and 13 other Republicans joined House Democrats in 2019 to override Trump’s veto of a measure that would have lifted the president’s national emergency declaration at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Stefanik made headlines in 2019 for condemning then-president Trump’s impeachment – which in 2022 she supported the expungement of – and for filing a misconduct complaint over the judge selection in Trump’s hush money trial.
“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are choosing to ignore the law and waiving mandatory terrorism sanctions on the Palestinian government,” Stefanik posted on X Sunday night. “Thankfully the Biden-Harris Administration’s rewarding of terrorists at the expense of our great ally Israel is coming to an end.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a democrat, will hold a special election for Stefanik’s seat in the state’s 21st congressional district.
This article was originally published at www.thecentersquare.com
