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President Donald Trump announced that his border czar<\/a>, Tom Homan, will go to Minneapolis this week following the fatal shooting of an ICU nurse Saturday in the Midwestern city that has become the epicenter of opposition to the president\u2019s controversial<\/a> immigration crackdown. <\/p>\n Homan\u2019s arrival comes as protests across the city have intensified following videos and eye witness<\/a> accounts of Alex Pretti’s fatal shooting that directly contradict<\/a> the Trump administration\u2019s official narrative. Homan\u2019s planned trip also coincides with growing calls by Republicans and Democrats alike for an independent investigation into immigration enforcement tactics, which have drawn more scrutiny since agents fatally shot a different<\/a> Minneapolis resident in her car weeks earlier. <\/p>\n Here is what to know about Homan ahead of his arrival in the Twin Cities. <\/p>\n Homan, 64, started his career in 1984<\/a> as a Border Patrol agent before moving to Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2003 when the agency was created as part of Homeland Security. He was a relatively low-key but influential figure on immigration enforcement in the Obama administration, heading ICE\u2019s Enforcement and Removal Operations arm, which was tasked with tracking down people with outstanding deportation orders and removing them from the country. <\/p>\n Despite unwavering enthusiasm for Trump and withering criticism of President Joe Biden, he is seen by some as a voice of restraint and moderation compared with some in the current administration.<\/p>\n Homan, who is widely associated with immigration enforcement actions that separated families<\/a>, was given a Presidential Rank Award by the Obama administration to tout his efficacy in 2015. <\/p>\n Homan was at his retirement party in January 2017 when Trump\u2019s choice for homeland security secretary, John Kelly, asked him to stay at ICE. Homan accepted after taking a weekend to think about it and became a leading figure in the Trump administration through four tumultuous years.<\/p>\n Under Obama, the U.S. carried out 432,000 deportations in 2013, the highest annual total since records were kept. Deportations under the first Trump administration never topped 350,000<\/a>.<\/p>\n When he was appointed border czar<\/a>, Homan was seen as a leader who not only aligned with Trump ideologically, but who also had significant practical experience in immigration policy. <\/p>\n Homan portrays illegal immigration as black-and-white and has made no apologies for Trump\u2019s policy of targeting everyone in the country without status, not just those with criminal histories, public safety concerns and recent border crossers.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re in the country illegally, you should be concerned,\u201d he said in a 2018 interview with The Associated Press. \u201cThat\u2019s the way it\u2019s supposed to be. Just like if I go speeding down the highway, are you worried about getting a ticket? If you lie on your taxes, are you worried about an audit?\u201c<\/p>\n “People ask me all the time, why did you remove that guy who\u2019s been here 12 years and has two U.S. citizen kids. I said because he had his due process,\u201d he told the AP. \u201cPeople think I enjoy this. I\u2019m a father. People don\u2019t think this bothers me. I feel bad about the plight of these people. Don\u2019t get me wrong, but I have a job to do.\u201d<\/p>\n He also said, in a separate interview, that worksite immigration enforcement operations \u2014 which the Biden administration largely stopped \u2014 would be necessary.<\/p>\n \u201cI will run the biggest deportation operation this country\u2019s ever seen,\u201d Homan said in 2024. <\/p>\n In an appearance on Fox News\u2019 \u201cSunday Morning Futures” in 2024, Homan promised to target \u2014 at least initially \u2014 people posing a risk to public safety and pushed back on suggestions that the U.S. military would be assisting<\/a> in finding and deporting immigrants.<\/p>\n \u201cYou concentrate on the public safety threats and the national security threats first, because they\u2019re the worst of the worst,\u201d he said on the show. He also said ICE would move to implement Trump\u2019s plans in a \u201chumane manner.\u201d<\/p>\n On a separate \u201c60 Minutes\u201d interview before the 2024 presidential elections, Homan called suggestions of mass neighborhood raids or building camps to hold people \u201cridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked whether there was a way to carry out deportations without separating families, he said, \u201cFamilies can be deported together.\u201d <\/p>\n There are countless recent examples across the country of arrests that don\u2019t align with those priorities. In Minnesota, The Associated Press has reported on how ICE agents have detained people with legal immigration status<\/a> and no criminal records<\/a>, children and<\/a> U.S. citizens.<\/p>\n