Tom Homan, former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and now serving as President Trump’s appointed “border czar,” revealed a deeply personal cost of his return to public service—he is living separately from his wife amid a surge of death threats.
In a candid interview with New York Post columnist Miranda Devine on her new podcast Pod Force One, Homan spoke openly and emotionally about the toll it has taken. “I spent a lot of time with my boys growing up, but as I got more and more — climbed the ladder of what I’ve done with ICE director and now back — I don’t see my family very much,” he said.
“My wife’s living separately from me right now, mainly because I worked for many hours, but mostly because of the death threats against me,” he added. “She’s someplace else. I see her as much as I can, but the death threats against me and my family are outrageous.”
Homan, a key architect of the Trump administration’s border enforcement policies, was appointed by President Trump shortly after his 2024 election win to lead the new administration’s expansive mass deportation initiative. The offer came during what began as an ordinary dinner with his wife—an evening that quickly became historic.
“I was the first person he called, bringing back, which, again, was a proud moment, but I was actually out to dinner with my wife, and then my phone rang, and I looked down, and it says, ‘POTUS.’ And my wife says, ‘He’s asking him to come back, isn’t he?’” Homan recalled.
“So I walked outside, and the first thing he said to me was, ‘You’ve been bitching about it for four years. Well, come back and fix it.’ So how do you say no?” Homan told Divine.
That call thrust Homan back into the national spotlight—and squarely into the sights of his political opponents. His leadership in ICE’s aggressive immigration enforcement has earned him praise from conservatives while drawing fierce criticism from open-borders advocates.
