Tom Homan is reconnecting with incoming DHS leadership, aiming to reset a fractured relationship and ensure his enforcement experience shapes the department under a new secretary.
Tom Homan, known as the border czar, has begun courting Senator Markwayne Mullin after President Donald Trump tapped Mullin to lead the Department of Homeland Security. Homan’s outreach signals an intent to be an active advisor and a force in immigration enforcement as the agency prepares for new leadership. Sources close to the administration say he’s already introducing Mullin to key allies and policy players to make sure his voice is heard.
That push comes after a year of sharp friction with former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, a dynamic that constrained Homan’s influence on interior enforcement decisions. His role was meant to bridge the White House and DHS, but personality clashes and rival advisers left him sidelined from key operational talks. With Noem out, Homan is seizing the chance to reset relations and align enforcement strategy with the president’s goals.
From Politico:
Tensions between border czar Tom Homan and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ran so high over the last year that they barely spoke. Homan is determined to avoid a repeat.
Homan is making a concerted effort to quickly build a relationship with Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, President Donald Trump’s pick to replace Noem at the Department of Homeland Security, according to three people close to the administration who are familiar with the efforts. The border czar has already introduced Mullin to key Trump allies, as well as players in the immigration policy space, as the senator gears up to take the reins at the sprawling government agency responsible for some of the president’s top policy priorities.
It’s a way for Homan, a 40-year veteran of immigration enforcement, to exert his influence and serve as an adviser to the White House and DHS, hovering between both worlds. It’s how Homan allies hoped his border czar role would work when Trump returned to office, but his toxic relationship with Noem — and her senior adviser Corey Lewandowski — froze him out of key decisions, fueling a disjointed enforcement effort.
Observers say Homan brings decades of deportation and enforcement experience that the White House wants tapped into rather than locked out. He’s described by allies as the kind of steady hand who understands agency operations and can translate policy into action. After being excluded from top-level discussions last year, Homan now appears determined to be a central player moving forward.
Homan and Noem had vastly different ideas about how to approach the president’s immigration enforcement agenda. Homan — an immigration hardliner and the architect of the Trump administration’s 2018 family separation policy — took issue with Noem’s flashy approach across U.S. cities, which resulted in clashes with community members and protesters, ultimately doing little to significantly advance the administration’s deportation goals.
Though Homan maintained relationships inside the White House, the border czar was often sidelined in top-level DHS discussions about the administration’s interior enforcement strategy. That shifted last month after federal agents in Minneapolis killed two U.S. citizens, causing a swift political backlash against Trump’s immigration agenda. The president removed Noem, and her ally, then-Border Patrol commander at-large Gregory Bovino, and deployed Homan to Minneapolis to work with local officials and ease tensions.
Former ICE director Mark Morgan weighed in, telling Politico that Homan will “be able to actually carry out the role of the border czar that it was originally intended to do, that Kristi and Corey [Lewandowski] literally cut him off from doing.” That endorsement matters inside enforcement circles where credibility and experience are currency. Homan’s record, controversial to some, is familiar to career agents and political allies who favor firm borders and clear, enforceable policy.
Morgan added that Mullin would “utilize Tom in the role that the border czar was designed for and to seek his guidance, to seek his knowledge, to see his expertise.” Those words underline a shift in how the White House plans to structure DHS input: operational expertise feeding policy decisions. If Mullin follows that script, Homan’s influence will stretch across both advisory and tactical arenas.
A previous Politico report detailed the power struggle between Noem and Homan, showing how internal fights can blunt an administration’s enforcement edge. Pressing personnel and strategic choices behind the scenes had real operational consequences at a time when the White House prioritized mass deportations. Now, with leadership changes underway, the administration has an opportunity to tighten coordination and pursue a clearer enforcement posture.
Trump announced on March 5 that Noem would be stepping down and that he would nominate Mullin as her replacement. The nominee’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is set to begin on Wednesday. With the hearing imminent, Homan’s outreach and introductions are timed to make sure his perspective is known and available during the transition.
