Transcript of Who is border czar Tom Homan?

Some fiery exchanges during a senate judiciary committee hearing on mass deportations on Capitol Hill today. Republicans and Democrats agree that criminals must be deported, but what happens to the rest of the migrants?

Here's what I would say. I think we need to be tough, compassionate, but end this crap. We must begin with these most serious offenders that are out there and get the money set aside for that. Do more at the border. Try to do something, positive here with dreamers and people that are contributing so greatly to our economy.

1 man has made it his life's mission to tackle mass deportations and now says he will deliver on Trump's promise to the American people. Maria Real has this report on who is Thomas Homan.

Border security, immigration, issues the American public has been loud and clear about needing reform.

We're gonna fix our borders. We're gonna fix everything about our country.

Wasting no time, president-elect Trump announced Tom Homan as his borders are less than a week after winning the election in early November.

Look what happened. Is this crazy?

The role of a czar doesn't need congressional confirmation and has been used by several other presidents, including Bush and Obama. As Trump's borders are, Homan will have a direct line to the White House and is expected to work closely with the Department of Homeland Security secretary.

I'm here for 1 reason. What's happening here on our borders right now is the biggest national security failure I've seen since 9:11.

Thomas Homan started his law enforcement career as a local police officer before becoming a border patrol agent.

He's, a little rough around the edges, a little boisterous. Some would call a a bull in a china shop.

After more than 2 decades, he ended up as the executive associate director of Immigration Customs Enforcement, ICE, during the Obama administration.

I really enjoyed my time working with Tom. Tom was a good guy. I would say, you know, the Tom that I worked with was a good person, a good cop, and a good colleague.

During the Obama presidency, a record number of migrants were deported, and Homan was the administration's mastermind in crafting policies to make this happen along with implementation strategies used in the field.

In a practical sense, we were side by side in a lot of meetings. So in Tom's role at that time, he was the head of enforcement and removal operations. So he oversaw every single operation across the country.

His actions earning him the distinguished presidential rank award in 2015, the highest professional award possible.

The award that was bestowed upon him by president Obama was significant. Whether he supported on a personal level or not policy directives, if it came down from the president, he was gonna do it to the best of his ability.

Homan continued his work with ICE during Trump's first administration, eventually gaining the title as acting ICE director, supporting then attorney general Jeff Sessions when he announced the 0 tolerance policy, a strategy that would prosecute adults for crossing the border illegally and separate them from their children. Amaya was no longer around when this policy went into effect, but has concerns about the way Homan has been labeled the father of family separation.

I remember a very challenging conversation that we had in the situation room at the White House, about family separation. Tom was 1 of the loudest voices against family separation, making the analogy to Eliane Gonzalez and the seared image of INS agents taking away a child out of a father's arms at gunpoint saying that if we thought that was bad, wait till the images come out if we were to run an operation like that today.

Over 3,000 children were removed and put into detention facilities or camps during family separation, overwhelming the immigration system.

The people united.

The images creating an uproar. Americans across

this country reacting to images like these, the tents, the detention centers where children separated from their parents are now being held.

The strategy was discontinued after Trump issued an executive order, but the chaos left in its wake created a major hurdle for Homan as he tried to gain senate confirmation as the official director of ICE. In June 2018, Homan retired. Since then, he's written a memoir, become a Fox News contributor, and joined the Heritage Foundation contributing to project 2025. Over the summer, as Trump's campaign kicked into high gear, Homan took center stage.

President Trump is gonna end the Biden Harris open border madness.

Facing signs demanding mass deportation now, Homan stayed firm on his stance saying this on CBS's 60 minutes. Is there a way to carry out mass deportation without separating families?

Of course there is. Families can be deported together.

Since the election and with his new title, Homan made a trip down to the Texas border and continues to talk about their tougher approach to immigration, including this past Sunday on Fox News.

DOD, they've helped every administration. We would like DOD to help us in a lot of areas in transportation and infrastructure building intelligence and targeting, but a sworn immigration officer with immigration authority will be making those arrests.

John Amaya believes true immigration reform has to come from congress and hopes Homan can deliver as he feels he always has.

I trust the man that I worked with. What I can't control is the directives that he's gonna get from the oval office. So I can't say that I trust anything in terms of the direction where this administration's gonna go on immigration. But I'm hopeful that the reality will be a lot different once he actually gets into his position.

Number of people waiting with bated breath to see how this turns out. Our thanks to Mariah for that.