Thomas Homan

Thomas Homan, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, announced plans to step down. He’ll retire from the role in June 2018. When President Donald Trump took office last year, Homan was asked by then-Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security John Kelly to step in as acting director of ICE. Homan, a career law enforcement officer, had reportedly been preparing to retire at the time. About six months ago, Trump nominated Homan to serve as the permanent director of ICE. According to reports, Homan’s confirmation hearing never took place, at least in part because he was uncertain whether he wanted to accept the role. Homan largely endorsed the administration’s tough immigration policies—immigration arrests increased 40% during his tenure, and 26% of those arrested had no criminal record, up from 13% in 2016. Mr. Homan is a 33-year veteran of law enforcement and has nearly 30 years of immigration enforcement experience. He has served as a police officer in New York; a U.S. Border Patrol agent; a special agent with the former U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service; as well as supervisory special agent and deputy assistant director for investigations at ICE. In 1999, Mr. Homan became the assistant district director for investigations (ADDI) in San Antonio, Texas, and three years later transferred to the ADDI position in Dallas, Texas. Upon the creation of ICE, Mr. Homan was named as the assistant agent in charge in Dallas. In March 2009, Mr. Homan accepted the position of assistant director for enforcement within ERO at ICE headquarters and was subsequently promoted to deputy executive associate director of ERO. Mr. Homan holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and received the Presidential Rank Award in 2015 for his exemplary leadership and extensive accomplishments in the area of immigration enforcement.