As Donald Trump’s second administration pushes forward with mass deportations, one of its most important figures in his fight for border control: Tom Homan.
Brought back by Trump to lead immigration enforcement as his so-called “border tsar,” Homan wasted little time after the inauguration. He confirmed on Fox & Friends that mass deportations began the day after Trump was sworn in, framing the effort as a matter of public safety and law enforcement.
“We’ll find the bad guy,” Homan said on air. “But when we find him, he’s going to be with others… If they’re in the United States illegally, they’re going to be arrested, too.”
A Lightning Rod for Controversy
Homan’s approach has been criticized by civil rights groups, Democratic lawmakers, and even Pope Francis, who condemned mass deportations in a letter to U.S. bishops, warning that policies built on force rather than human dignity “will end badly.”
Homan fired back just as sharply, telling reporters he wished the pope would “stick to the Catholic Church” and noting that the Vatican itself is surrounded by walls.
He has also clashed with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, after she hosted a webinar informing migrants of their legal rights during ICE encounters. Homan said he asked the deputy attorney general to review whether the event crossed the line into obstructing law enforcement, a move he later described on CNN as “responsible.”
By early 2026, Homan had become one of the most polarizing faces of Trump’s immigration crackdown, unapologetic, confrontational, and firmly aligned with the administration’s hardline stance.
The Wife Behind the Return
While Homan’s public image is defined by enforcement and confrontation, his private life has remained largely out of view.
Homan has been married to his wife, Elizabeth Homan, for more than four decades. According to interviews and publicly available accounts, the two met as teenagers and married around 1980. They have reportedly raised four children together.
Elizabeth has kept an extremely low profile. She has no known public social media presence and rarely appears in political discussions. What is known is that she once worked as a flight attendant for American Airlines, before later becoming a homemaker.
Despite her privacy, Elizabeth strongly encouraged her husband to return to government service.
In a November interview on Rumble with Donald Trump Jr., Homan revealed that his wife bluntly pushed him out of retirement.
“I took a huge pay cut,” Homan said. “But my wife told me, ‘If you don’t go back, we’re going to get divorced — I’m sick of you waking up every day angry about not being able to do anything.’”
From Retirement to the Center of Immigration Policy
Homan retired from ICE in 2018 after the Trump White House failed to advance his nomination for the agency’s permanent leadership. He later worked as a Fox News contributor and served as a visiting fellow at The Heritage Foundation, where he helped shape immigration policy proposals later tied to Project 2025.
When Trump returned to office, Homan returned with him, stepping back into a senior role shaping and executing the administration’s immigration enforcement agenda.
A Law-Enforcement Family
Homan’s background offers clues to his worldview.
He was born in West Carthage, New York, to parents Frederick Leroy Homan and Doris I. Gibeau. His father was a police officer, as was his grandfather. He grew up in a large family, with one brother, Kevin, and five sisters.
The law-and-order ethos runs deep, and Homan has often framed immigration enforcement not as ideology but as duty.
Whether viewed as a necessary enforcer or a symbol of excess, Tom Homan is no longer operating in the shadows. As Trump’s immigration agenda accelerates in 2026, the man leading the charge, and the family quietly standing behind him, remain firmly in the spotlight.
