Tom Homan sets the record straight about his mission in Minneapolis
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“Border czar” Tom Homan disputed claims that President Donald Trump sent him to Minneapolis as part of a rollback of the administration’s crackdown on immigrants in Minnesota.
““If anyone thinks Tom Homan (if he is President Trump) isn’t serious about immigration enforcement and mass deportation, then they weren’t paying attention to that,” he told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Friday.
Appearing on “Hannity” in his first interview since being deployed to Minneapolis, Homan detailed his mission to calm widespread unrest in Minnesota but made clear he would not surrender.
“I say that to set the record straight, because my staff has said they’ve seen a lot of people saying that President Trump has reneged on his promise of mass deportation; “This is absolutely not true,” he said.
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White House ‘border czar’ Tom Homan speaks to the press outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, DC, on January 14. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
“Anyone who wants to misinterpret what it means for President Trump to send me to Minneapolis, then you’re not paying attention to that,” Homan said.
President Donald Trump sent Homan to Minneapolis this week to replace Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino, who the president said had not done well in overseeing the state’s immigration crackdown.
“Bovino is a very nice but pretty extraordinary guy,” Trump told Fox News’ Will Cain on Tuesday. “And in some cases that’s good. Maybe it wasn’t good here.”
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“Tom is great. Tom is a tough guy, but I’ve watched him over the years and he gets along well with governors and mayors,” he added. “Some people don’t do that. Some people just want to do their job and leave me alone.”
The split image shows Greg Bovino, chief of the Border Patrol unit in El Centro, California, on the left and border czar Tom Homan on the right. (Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images; Tom Brenner via Getty Images for The Washington Post)
On “Hannity,” Homan opened up more about his “productive” meeting with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Tuesday.
He said leaders have pledged to honor federal immigration detainees within Minnesota’s prison system and allow officers to make arrests in jails rather than searching for suspects on the streets.
“The more agents we have in prisons, the rest of those people are in the safety and security of the prison, safer for the officer, safer for the aliens, safer for society,” Homan explained.
Federal agents operating in neighborhoods to find deportation targets has been a flashpoint for widespread unrest in Minnesota, with residents protesting their actions.
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Federal agents attempt to clear demonstrators near a hotel using tear gas during a noise demonstration in response to federal immigration enforcement operations in the city, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Minneapolis. (Adam Gray/AP Photo)
““Instead of sending an entire team into the community, a single agent can arrest a bad guy in prison,” Homan said. “And despite all the hate and rhetorical attacks, we had to send another team for security.”
“We have to do the job with 15 or 16 men that one agent can do in prison,” he added.
Homan said the number of federal agents in Minnesota could be reduced if Walz and Frey fulfill their commitment to cooperate.
““We can reduce the number of agents there because we are in prisons,” he said.
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Protesters chant slogans and bang on trash cans while standing behind a makeshift barricade during a protest in response to the death of Alex Pretti, 37, who was fatally shot by a U.S. Border Patrol officer in Minneapolis on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
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While Homan said his goal was to calm tensions amid the unrest in Minnesota over the deadly shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, he emphasized that his leadership would not be shaken.
““We will carry out a mass deportation, but we will prioritize the arrest of criminals and threats to public safety,” he said.
“If you are in a country illegally, you cannot leave the table. We will find you and we will deport you too.”
