(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, served as the executive associate director of ICE under former President Barack Obama, and as acting director of ICE from 2017 to 2018 under Trump. Previously, Homan worked as a police officer in New York and later a border patrol agent.
Homan is credited as one of the originators of the family separation policy at the southern border and pushed for a “zero tolerance” policy on immigration, including arrests of foreign nationals at workplaces in the U.S.
With more than 34 years of border and immigration enforcement experience, Homan supports deporting immigrants living in the U.S. illegally and opposes sanctuary cities. He has accused the Biden-Harris administration of purposefully leaving the border open, leading to spikes in fentanyl deaths, human trafficking, missing children and cartel crime.
“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.
