Minneapolis is the Trump administration’s latest immigration hotspot, with a familiar figure on the scene directing federal operations after two fatal shootings and days of intensifying protests sparked by agitators in the Twin Cities.

border czar Tom Homanis a career law enforcement officer with more than four decades of immigration enforcement experience who has served in both Republican and Democratic administrations, including being officially recognized during the Obama era. Allies say the resume undermines any notion that he is a partisan fixer and makes him an ideal choice to lead in Minneapolis.

“Tom Homan is a decorated career law enforcement professional who has served in multiple presidential administrations, both Republican and Democratic,” America First Law Firm president Gene Hamilton said in an interview with Fox News Digital. “He is a serious American patriot who is committed to making his country a better place. So I have every confidence that Tom is the right man for the job.”

“When people deal with Tom Homan, they know exactly who they are dealing with. He is a well-known entity,” Hamilton continued.

Behind the Scenes: Trump and White House rally in support of Noem as ‘radicals’ demand ouster

On January 26, 2026, White House border czar Tom Homan was sent to Minnesota to take charge of the state’s immigration crackdown. (Jim Watson/Getty Images)

Hamilton, who worked with Homan on immigration policy during Trump’s first term, told Fox News Digital that Homan is the right person to oversee operations in Minnesota because of his law-and-order approach and record across government. Hamilton previously served as Trump’s deputy White House counsel in the first half of 2025 and now serves as president of America’s First Law Firm.

Homan was deployed to Gopher on Monday, effectively replacing Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino and reporting directly to the president. Donald Trump when he took over the administration’s immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities. His leadership of the effort follows two high-profile shootings involving federal law enforcement that left two Americans dead, deaths that Democrats called “murder” while noting that ICE is a modern-day “Gestapo.”

Asked about Homan’s leadership of the mission, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said: “Tom Homan is a patriot with decades of experience effectively protecting American communities and deporting criminal aliens who are illegal.”

Why Trump sending Tom Homan to Minnesota was an absolute stroke of genius

Amid a leadership shakeup in Minnesota, a White House official told Fox News Digital the administration is “not wavering” on its mission to arrest and deport illegal immigrants, with one official saying Trump wants to prevent further violence and work with state and local leaders to eliminate public safety threats.

After agitators Renee Good and Alex Pretti were shot to death by law enforcement this month, Democrats blasted ICE’s broader crackdown as too harsh, calling for investigations and tighter restrictions on enforcement tactics. Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer responded to the criticism, saying what’s happening minnesota This is “shocking” and urgently calls for new oversight and safeguards over ICE’s actions as the Trump administration insists the mission remains unchanged and focused on law and order.

Jackson added in his comments to Homan: “The Trump administration will never waver in its commitment to maintaining law and order and protecting the American people.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, left, and White House border czar Tom Homan speak with reporters at the White House, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Homan began his federal law enforcement career in 1984 as a Border Patrol agent with the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which was abolished after 9/11 and replaced by the Department of Homeland Security. His rise through the ranks in federal law enforcement included former President Barack Obama’s appointment in 2013 to lead ICE’s enforcement and deportation operations.

Hamilton went on to say that Homan is not a partisan actor and is focused on delivering legal deportation results — just as he has done for Democratic administrations.

“Tom Homan’s mission is nonpartisan. It’s not political,” Hamilton continued in his comments about Homan. “The only people who politicized it were Minnesota officials who turned it into a rallying cry for demagogues who were, frankly, more interested in causing unrest and obstructing federal law enforcement in the streets of Minneapolis than anyone we’ve seen in recent history.”

Chad Wolf, who served as acting secretary of Homeland Security during President Trump’s first term, wrote an op-ed for Fox News Digital, calling Trump’s appointment of Homan to oversee the operation “an absolute stroke of genius.”

“Homan is not a headline-loving political firebrand. He is a career law enforcement professional with more than 30 years of experience with ICE and U.S. Border Patrol who understands the operational realities of immigration enforcement,” Wolfe wrote. “He was not sent to Minnesota for provocation; he was sent to restore coherence to a situation that had become dangerously fragmented.”

Department of Homeland Security data shows deportations surged during the Obama administration, including a record 438,421 deportations in fiscal 2013, fueling the “deportation kingpin” label used by activists to describe the 44th president.

In 2016, Obama awarded Homan the Presidential Distinguished Service Award, an honor that recognizes leaders who create “sustained extraordinary results.”

On February 4, 2015, President Barack Obama discussed immigration reform during a meeting with young immigrants known as Dreamers in the Oval Office of the White House. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

“Thomas Homan evicts people. He’s really good at it,” The Washington Post wrote in an article covering the award at the time.

“Homan is the Washington bureaucrat responsible for rounding up, detaining and deporting illegal immigrants,” the article continues. “As Americans debate whether the next president should build a wall on the Mexican border to keep immigrants out or protect millions from deportation, Homan is actually hunting down undocumented immigrants, strategizing for the 8,000 police officers on the front lines.”

David Marcus: Defying Trump means Mayor Jacob Frey owns chaos in Minneapolis

Fast forward to the campaign cycle of Trump’s first term, Homan was reappointed to help the Republican presidential administration address immigration issues, serving as acting director in 2017 and 2018.

Tom Homan, then-executive deputy director for enforcement and deportations at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, testified before the House Judiciary Committee in 2014. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Now, the border czar vows he won’t leave the Twin Cities “until the problem goes away.”

Homan has publicly suggested that ICE could halt direct action in communities if local leaders allowed federal agents to enter jails and detain movable immigrants in controlled settings, a proposal that effectively turned Minnesota into a test case for whether sanctuary-style resistance could be bought for cooperation on detainer issues.

After arriving in Minneapolis, he met with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, calling the interactions “productive” as he hopes to reduce the number of federal agents on the streets and focus on deporting illegal aliens held in jails.

Click here to download the Fox News app

“The more agents we have in the jails, the fewer agents we have on the streets,” Homan said Thursday. “It’s common-sense cooperation that allows us to reduce the number of people here. Yes, I said it: reduce the number of people here because we have the efficiency and security of our jails and prisons.”