TIPP survey after survey has shown that along with the Biden-Harris administration’s poor record on economic stewardship (inflation touched 40-year highs), Americans were deeply concerned about unprecedented illegal immigration, which brought in nearly 18 million undocumented people into the country. In TIPP polls conducted in the battleground states, Trump led Harris by 20 points on immigration.
Even the outgoing Biden-Harris administration conceded how bad the problem was. In September, the acting chief of Biden’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement released a letter to Tony Gonzales, a Texas Republican Congressman. Gonzalez’s request for immigrant data had been sitting with ICE for more than six months.
The letter was explosive, enough to sink any campaign. It said that under Harris, the Border Czar, America had caught and released into the country over 662,000 migrants with criminal records. Worse, more than 15,000 of them were murderers convicted in their home countries, and 16,000 had been convicted of sexual assault. Other crimes included assaults (100,000), drug violations (70,000), invasions of privacy (90,000), and weapons offenses (16,000).
So potent was the illegal immigration issue that it resonated not just in the border states of Arizona and Nevada but in places far removed from the border, like Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia.
As President-Elect, Trump selected long-time aide and campaign manager Susie Wiles for a historic appointment as the first female White House Chief of Staff. Then, he fittingly announced his choice for border czar: Tom Homan.
Writing on Truth Social, Trump said:
I am pleased to announce that the Former ICE Director and stalwart on Border Control, Tom Homan, will be joining the Trump Administration, in charge of our Nation’s Borders (“The Border Czar”), including, but not limited to, the Southern Border, the Northern Border, all Maritime, and Aviation Security. I’ve known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders. Likewise, Tom Homan will be in charge of all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin. Congratulations to Tom. I have no doubt he will do a fantastic and long-awaited job.
Yesterday, Trump added policy heft to Homan’s appointment when he announced that his long-term aide on all matters of immigration, Stephen Miller, who has served as a top adviser in Trumpworld since 2015, will return to the White House as deputy chief of staff for policy.
Trump’s appointment of a Border Czar, as the first of several high-profile announcements, shows that he means business in tackling America’s #2 problem, according to voters. His selection of Homan further intensifies his commitment to cleaning the house, including conducting mass deportations of illegal aliens.
Who is Tom Homan? Homan is a retired law enforcement officer with a lengthy career focused on immigration enforcement. President Donald Trump appointed Homan as the acting ICE director in January 2017. Homan served in this role until his retirement in June 2018. Throughout his tenure, he was known for his strong support of Trump’s immigration policies and took a decisive public stance in promoting the administration’s approach to border security. He frequently appeared in the media to advocate for zero-tolerance policies, such as increased deportations and family separations at the border.
Homan’s background includes over three decades of service in immigration enforcement. Before leading ICE, he held roles such as Executive Associate Director of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), where he focused on identifying, detaining, and removing undocumented immigrants from the U.S. His work emphasized enforcing federal immigration laws, often targeting undocumented individuals with criminal records.
Since leaving ICE, Homan has continued to be vocal on immigration issues, often speaking out on television, writing opinion pieces, and appearing before Congress to advocate for stricter immigration controls.
In the weeks before the election, Homan was interviewed on CBS News’s 60 Minutes.
60 Minutes: We have seen one estimate that says it would cost $88 billion to deport a million people a year.
Homan: I don’t know if it is accurate or not.
60 Minutes: Is that what American taxpayers should expect?
Homan: What price do you put on national security? Is that worth it?
60 Minutes: Is there a way to conduct mass deportations without separating families?
Homan: Of course there is. Families can be deported together.
Biden-Harris policies have failed America. The Biden-Harris administration indirectly welcomed illegal immigration by pursuing a more humane policy, one that aligns better with what they held to be “America’s values.” In the process, they weakened enforcement at every step, resulting in nearly 18 million migrants spreading to every corner of the country. Harris consistently dodged answering questions about how she, as the Border Czar, could be so incompetent. It is now Homan’s role to find the most dangerous illegal immigrants and deport them to their home countries, an incredibly challenging goal.
Asylees. When undocumented persons enter the U.S. at a border post, they apply for asylum. To be granted asylum in the U.S., applicants must show a reasonable fear of persecution due to one of five protected grounds: race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. The persecution must be by the government or by groups the government is unable or unwilling to control. However, 90% of asylum requests are denied by United States courts, as most applicants are seeking better economic conditions.
The system is hopelessly broken. There aren’t sufficient asylum judges, and with the overwhelming flow of migrants, backlogs have built up. It takes about nine years for an asylum hearing, during which time the illegal alien is allowed to settle into the country with relatives or friends. If the alien gives birth to a child during this waiting period, the child becomes a United States citizen, according to the 14th Amendment. Having U.S. citizen children makes it extraordinarily difficult for aliens to be deported if their asylum requests are denied. It is unlikely that Homan can act on immigrants awaiting decisions on their asylum requests.
Immigrants who slip through Border posts. Many immigrants, fearing that the Department of Homeland Security will continue tracking them in America if they register for asylum at a Border Patrol post – or deny initial asylum processing if the immigrant has a criminal record – risk it all by slipping into the country between border posts. No one knows how many untracked aliens are roaming freely within America. Homan has to focus ICE’s efforts on finding these individuals, apprehending them based on enforcement priorities, and deporting them.
In the meantime, Homan has to tighten policing to prevent new caravans from arriving near the border or making an attempt to enter the United States.
Last but not least, Homan is a stark contrast to Harris, who distanced herself from her role as border czar and avoided visiting the border for an extended period. Trump has the mandate and is determined to fix the situation, much like he did in eliminating the ISIS threat, which largely went underreported by left-leaning media.
Whether Homan is working to deport illegal aliens who are already here or tightening border security, his job is thankless. But if anyone is qualified to take it on, it is Tom Homan.
TIPP Takes
Geopolitics, Geoeconomics, And More
1. U.S. Strikes Iran-Backed Targets In Syria In Response To Attacks On American Troops: CENTCOM – Al Arabiya
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed that its forces launched strikes on nine targets in two locations in Syria, targeting groups associated with Iran.
The strikes aimed to degrade the Iranian-backed groups’ ability to plan and execute future attacks on U.S. and Coalition forces, who are in Syria for counter-ISIS operations, CENTCOM added.
2. EU On Way To Reach Million-Shell Pledge For Ukraine This Year, Borrell Says – RFE/RL
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who is in Kyiv, told the European Pravda news outlet that the EU has delivered 980,000 shells to Kyiv so far.
A separate Czech-led EU initiative launched in February aimed to buy up to 500,000 artillery shells for Ukraine from countries outside Europe until the end of the year. By October, just over one-third of the shells had been delivered to Ukraine. Russian forces outfire Ukrainian ones at a rate of 5-to-1 on the battlefield.
3. Zelensky Says Russia Has 50,000 Troops In Kursk – BBC
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said his military’s ongoing incursion into Russia’s Kursk region is now holding down 50,000 Russian troops.
In his daily address to the nation, Zelensky said the operation was reducing Moscow’s ability to attack inside Ukraine itself. The president has long cited this as the goal of the offensive despite skepticism from some Western allies.
A report in the New York Times suggests Moscow has achieved its troop build-up in Kursk without any need to pull its soldiers out of Ukraine.
4. Russia Reportedly Suffered Record 1,500 Casualties Daily In October – RFE/RL
An average of around 1,500 Russian soldiers were killed or injured per day in October – Russia’s worst month for casualties since the beginning of the invasion.
Britain’s Chief of the Defense Staff, Tony Radakin, claimed Moscow was spending more than 40 percent of public expenditure on defense and security, putting “an enormous strain” on the country.
5. Kremlin Says Reports That Trump Spoke To Putin Are ‘Pure Fiction’ – Al Jazeera
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov referred to the media reports as “pure fiction” and said that Putin has no specific plans to speak to Trump.
“This is the most obvious example of the quality of the information that is being published now, sometimes even in fairly reputable publications,” Peskov said. The Washington Post first reported that Trump held the call from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Thursday, just days after his election victory.
6. Russian-American Loses Appeal Over $51 Ukraine Donation, Faces 12 Years – RFE/RL
A Russian court has upheld the 12-year prison sentence handed down to dual U.S.-Russian citizen Ksenia Karelina for treason after she was found guilty of transferring $51 to a Ukrainian aid charity in early 2022.
The U.S. State Department said it was aware of Karelina’s case, with spokesman Vedant Patel adding that Russia “has a track record of…not recognizing their (dual nationals’) American citizen status and frankly being uncooperative when it comes to…meeting their obligations under consular conventions.”
7. North Korea’s Kim Finalizes Defense Pact With Russia – Yonhap
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has signed off a defense pact with Russia, the North’s state media reported, amid heightened concerns over Pyongyang’s troop dispatch to Russia.
The previous day, the North’s Korean Central News Agency reported that the treaty on “comprehensive strategic partnership” between North Korea and Russia was ratified as a decree from the North Korean leader.
8. Satellite Images And Documents Indicate China Working On Nuclear Propulsion For New Aircraft Carrier – A.P.
Researchers at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California said they made the finding while investigating a mountain site outside the city of Leshan in the Sichuan province. They suspected China was building a reactor to produce plutonium or tritium for weapons.
Instead they concluded that China was building a prototype reactor for a large warship. The project at Leshan is dubbed the Longwei, or Dragon Might, Project and is also referred to as the Nuclear Power Development Project in documents.
9. Hong Kong ‘Upgrades’ Lamppost That Matched Tiananmen Massacre Date – RFA
Authorities in Hong Kong have gone to extraordinary lengths to avoid highlighting some of the more negative aspects of recent Chinese history, which has angered Beijing.
Officials have changed the name of a lamppost whose official number inadvertently referenced the 1989 Tiananmen massacre. The lamppost, located close to the internal border with mainland China, was once labeled “FA8964,” which could be read as code for “June 4, 1989,” a politically sensitive keyword that is banned on the Chinese internet.
10. Report: SpaceX Signs Battery Deal With South Korea-Based LG Energy Solution To Power Starship – UPI
“We have signed a contract to supply power supply batteries for SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and are currently developing the product,” a spokesperson for LG Energy Solution told media.
LG Energy currently supplies batteries to electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, also owned by Musk. This would be the first long-term battery purchase for SpaceX from a third party. While LG Energy has supplied batteries in one-time deals for SpaceX, the spacecraft manufacturer has relied on self-made batteries.
11. Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille Fired By Transitional Council – UPI
An executive order published by the official Le Moniteur states that Alix Didier Fils-Aime, Haiti’s former Chamber of Commerce president, has been chosen to replace Garry Conille.
Conille was appointed prime minister of Haiti in June by the nation’s nine-member transitional council, which was formed after Prime Minister Ariel Henry resigned as gang violence subsumed the capital of Port-au-Prince. The Island nation has suffered through a political vacuum since President Jovenel Moise was assassinated in July of 2021.
12. Diabetes, Kidney Woes Can Lead To Heart Disease After Decades – HealthDay News
Men with both diabetes and kidney disease will develop heart health problems 28 years earlier than those without either condition, researchers reported. Women with diabetes and kidney disease will develop heart problems 26 years earlier, results show.
Adults with chronic kidney disease develop higher risk of heart disease eight years earlier than those with healthy kidneys while people with type 2 diabetes, the heart disease risk is about a decade sooner than those without diabetes.
Researchers warned that their findings are based on a simulated population. Because these findings were presented at a medical meeting, they should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
13. Asthma Associated With Memory Problems In Children, Study Finds – HealthDay News
Researchers found that the early onset of asthma might worsen potential memory deficits in kids.
The team found that children with asthma had lower scores in tests of episodic memory, the specific type of memory related to experiences and emotions. They noted that asthma in older adults has been associated with a greater risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
Republished with permission from TIPP Insights
