The Man Behind Trump's Family Separation Policy is the Leading Candidate for Homeland Security Secretary

Thomas Homan is no stranger to Donald Trump's immigration policies. During the president's first term, he served as acting director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for a year and a half and is credited as being behind the Family Separation Policy, which was condemned by the United Nations as a Human Rights violation from its inception.

During the Biden administration, Homan continued to gain notoriety, especially for being one of the main authors behind Project 2025, the document which many believe to be the policy blueprint for his second term in office. Even though Trump himself has publicly said he ignores who's behind the project, he did keep tabs on Homan as he went as far as to say back in October that the former ICE head would be a part of his team if elected:

"You've seen Tom. You've seen Tom Homan. He's coming on board."

On Wednesday, hours after Trump defeated Kamala Harris to become the next President of the United States, Reuters provided in-depth analysis around the Republican's potential cabinet and Thomas Homan's name came up, this time as the leading candidate for Homeland Security Secretary.

Although it's still early to predict what kind of policies Homan would pursue at the DHS, he provided some insights less than a week before the election during an interview with "60 Minutes". When asked if he believed there was a way to carry out Trump's proposed mass deportations without separating families, Homan bluntly responded: "of course there is. Families can be deported together."

Trump made mass deportations an essential part of his immigration proposals during the campaign trail and, according to comments by Trump's national press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday, they will be a priority for the new administration:

"He will restore his effective immigration policies, implement brand new crackdowns that will send shockwaves to all the world's criminal smugglers, and marshal every federal and state power necessary to institute the largest deportation operation of illegal criminals, drug dealers, and human traffickers in American history"