President-elect Donald Trump's border czar Tom Homan, rather than South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem — his nominee to head the Department of Homeland Security — will be the person "driving" the incoming administration's immigration policy, according to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
"Homan and Noem will work hand in hand," the Texas Republican commented on his "Verdict" podcast, Newsweek reported Wednesday. "They will be very effective. [Homan] understands the border and what it takes to secure the border. I think he will be the point person driving the agenda."
Cruz also insisted that the border will be secured with Trump taking office.
"It won't take a year; it won't take six months," he said. "It will be done by January and February next year."
Homan, the former acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director, has already been speaking out about the plans to fill Trump's promises of deporting immigrants who are in the United States illegally.
He said in an interview this week that sanctuary cities and states must "get the hell out of the way," as they will not be able to stop the administration's plans.
Homan and Noem, along with Steven Miller, Trump's appointment as deputy chief of policy, will play key roles in shaping the new administration's hardline immigration policy.
Cruz, meanwhile, said that he is "very happy" with Homan and Noem as Trump's appointments, adding that Homan cares deeply about securing the nation's borders.
Advocacy groups, however, have been speaking out against Homan's appointment, with a spokesman for "No More Deaths" calling him a "rabid anti-immigrant extremist."
"Trump's newest assignments for immigration are predictably terrifying and will further escalate the U.S. government's bipartisan war against the world's most vulnerable people," the spokesman said. "Homan is a rabid anti-immigrant extremist who thinks the U.S. should invade Mexico to solve the fentanyl crisis and wants the Border Patrol to rip babies from the arms of their parents in the name of national 'security.'"
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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