SAN ANTONIO — Tom Homan retired as acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement last June, but continues to speak out, almost daily, in defense of his former agency.
The outspoken defender and former leader of ICE told the Washington Examiner Fox News is his main platform, spending 90 percent of his time working as a contributor at the networks.
“I’m out there as much as I can trying to educate the people on what’s going on on the southern border,” said Homan, who still lives in the Washington area, at the 2019 Border Expo in San Antonio, Texas.
His activity comes as ICE faces increasing criticism from the Left. To some Democratic lawmakers, ICE has become a symbol of the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration policies. That includes heart-wrenching images of migrants being stopped at the border, with some held in what critics call cage conditions.
To talk up his old agency, Homan jumps between Fox News and Fox Business Network, going on TV five to seven days per week and sometimes more than once per day.
He said the last few days have been slower than normal because of the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report. Homan, an upstate New York native who was in law enforcement for more than three decades, speaks to immigration and border issues.
“It’s the number one issue facing the country,” he said.
Since Homan retired from federal service in June, he has taken on consulting gigs in addition to the Fox hits. He originally planned to retire in January 2017, but was asked by then-Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly the day of his retirement party to stay on until a replacement could be found. Homan agreed.
A replacement was never found and Homan told DHS leadership in January 2017 he intended to leave his post in June.
