Trump sends border tsar to run ICE in Minnesota

By Mark Stone, US correspondent

Donald Trump has announced on Truth Social that he is sending his “border tsar”, Tom Homan, to Minnesota.

Have a look at the post here:

Members of the administration have since been busy reposting this announcement.

To me this feels like a big restructure and a reflection of a bad weekend for the White House.

There are broadly two competing camps within the administration regarding the immigration brief. Be in no doubt that both are hardline with their policies and their ideology.

But there is a distinction between them.

Noem camp

The camp led by Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security secretary, has been driving the recent ICE action in places like Minneapolis.

Working with her on the policy are two hardline immigration ideologues: Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff at the White House (the person who said Alex Pretti was a “domestic terrorist”), and Corey Lewandowski.

Lewandowski is a former campaign manager for Trump and was a key lieutenant for him during the attempts to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in 2020. He was at the heart of the “stolen election” campaign.

Noem’s foot soldier is Gregory Bovino, often referred to as the border patrol chief. In fact, he is a commander within the Border Patrol who has been informally elevated to a leadership role.

Team Homan

Homan was appointed by Trump as his border tsar early on in the administration, but more recently lost out in somewhat of a power struggle with Noem.

Like those in the Noem camp, Homan is a hardliner when it comes to immigration, but there is a distinction.

In the number of times I have interviewed him I have been struck that he is focused less on ideology and more on practical delivery: “If they are here illegally, we will remove them.”

He tends to focus in a more methodical manner and he has advocated for much more discipline in enforcement operations.

There is less theatre with Homan and more of a drive to find the most effective roots to get criminals who are in the country illegally out. 

Homan has spent his entire career in immigration. He served under the Obama administration as well as during the first Trump term.

Expect the Minneapolis operation to be more disciplined with Homan in charge. It’s notable that Trump chose to emphasise that Homan had not been involved in the Minneapolis operation so far.

Note too that Trump has announced he is separating out the fraud investigation (millions allegedly embezzled by people in Minneapolis’ Somali community) from the ICE and immigration work. That’s an obvious and sensible move to de-escalate. Trump also re-emphasised the need to round up of “the worst of the worst”.

Beyond this restructuring there has also been a notable shift in tone by the White House away from the early rhetoric on Saturday.

The killing of Alex Pretti has gone from “he’s a domestic terrorist” to “it’s a tragedy”.