President Donald Trump appointed a new acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Monday night, choosing Thomas Homan, the man who previously was in charge of removals.
Homan has led ICE’s efforts to identify, arrest, detain and remove illegal immigrant since 2013. “I am confident that he will continue to serve as a strong, effective leader for the men and women of ICE. I look forward to working alongside him to ensure that we enforce our immigration laws in the interior of the United States consistent with the national interest,” Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly said in a statement.
Homan is replacing Daniel Ragsdale as acting director. The Washington Post reports that Ragsdale was not fired and will remain deputy director of ICE. In a 2016 Senate hearing, Homan said that then-President Barack Obama’s immigration policies had led to a decline in deportations.
A former staffer for Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions, Trump’s nominee for attorney general, told TheDC that Homan is sympathetic to Sessions’ hardline immigration views.