Trump Announces Immigration Official Tom Homan as 'Border Czar'

(FILES) Tom Homan, former Acting Director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement speaks to supporters of former US President Donald Trump during a rally at the Banks County Dragway on March 26, 2022 in Commerce, Georgia. (Photo by Megan Varner / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
(FILES) Tom Homan, former Acting Director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement speaks to supporters of former US President Donald Trump during a rally at the Banks County Dragway on March 26, 2022 in Commerce, Georgia. (Photo by Megan Varner / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
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Trump Announces Immigration Official Tom Homan as 'Border Czar'

(FILES) Tom Homan, former Acting Director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement speaks to supporters of former US President Donald Trump during a rally at the Banks County Dragway on March 26, 2022 in Commerce, Georgia. (Photo by Megan Varner / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
(FILES) Tom Homan, former Acting Director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement speaks to supporters of former US President Donald Trump during a rally at the Banks County Dragway on March 26, 2022 in Commerce, Georgia. (Photo by Megan Varner / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)

President-elect Donald Trump says that Tom Homan, his former acting US Immigration and Customs Enforcement director, will serve as “border czar” in his incoming administration.
“I am pleased to announce that the Former ICE Director, and stalwart on Border Control, Tom Homan, will be joining the Trump Administration, in charge of our Nation’s Borders," he wrote late Sunday on his Truth Social site.
Homan was widely expected to be offered a position related to the border and Trump’s pledge to launch the largest deportation operation in the country's history, The Association Press said.
In addition to overseeing the southern and northern borders and “maritime, and aviation security,” Trump said Homan “will be in charge of all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin,” a central part of his agenda.
He says he had “no doubt” Homan “will do a fantastic, and long awaited for, job.”
Such a role does not require Senate confirmation.
In an interview on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” Homan said the military would not be rounding up and arresting immigrants in the country illegally and that ICE would move to implement Trump's plans in a “humane manner.”
“It’s going to be a well-targeted, planned operation conducted by the men of ICE. The men and women of ICE do this daily. They’re good at it,” he said. “When we go out there, we’re going to know who we’re looking for. We most likely know where they’re going to be, and it’s going to be done in a humane manner."
Earlier this year at the National Conservatism Conference in Washington, Homan expressed frustration at the news coverage of a mass deportation operation.
“Wait until 2025,” he said, adding that, while he thinks the government needed to prioritize national security threats, “no one’s off the table. If you’re here illegally, you better be looking over your shoulder.”
He also said: “you’ve got my word. Trump comes back in January, I’ll be in his heels coming back, and I will run the biggest deportation operation this country’s ever seen.”



French Govt Faces Collapse after Opposition Says It Will Back No-Confidence Vote

Party leader of Rassemblement National (RN) Marine Le Pen (C) talks to journalists after the French National Assembly debate on parts of France's 2025 budget bill, in Paris, France, 02 December 2024. (EPA)
Party leader of Rassemblement National (RN) Marine Le Pen (C) talks to journalists after the French National Assembly debate on parts of France's 2025 budget bill, in Paris, France, 02 December 2024. (EPA)
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French Govt Faces Collapse after Opposition Says It Will Back No-Confidence Vote

Party leader of Rassemblement National (RN) Marine Le Pen (C) talks to journalists after the French National Assembly debate on parts of France's 2025 budget bill, in Paris, France, 02 December 2024. (EPA)
Party leader of Rassemblement National (RN) Marine Le Pen (C) talks to journalists after the French National Assembly debate on parts of France's 2025 budget bill, in Paris, France, 02 December 2024. (EPA)

The French government is all but certain to collapse later this week after far-right and left-wing parties said they will vote in favor of a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Michel Barnier.

Investors immediately punished French stocks and bonds as the latest developments plunged the euro zone's second-biggest economy deeper into political crisis.

"The French have had enough," National Rally (RN) leader Marine Le Pen told reporters in parliament, saying her party would put forward its own no-confidence motion and will also vote for any similar bill by other parties. The left will also propose a similar motion.

"Maybe (voters) thought with Michel Barnier things would get better, but it got even worse."

Barring a last-minute surprise, Barnier's fragile coalition will be the first French government to be forced out by a no-confidence vote since 1962.

A government collapse would leave a hole at the heart of Europe, with Germany also in election mode, weeks ahead of Donald Trump re-entering the White House.

RN lawmakers and the left combined would have enough votes to topple Barnier. They now have 24 hours to put forward their no-confidence motions.

Their comments came after Barnier said on Monday that he would try to ram a social security bill through parliament without a vote after a last-minute concession proved insufficient to win RN's support for the bill.

French stocks reversed course, while a sell-off in the euro gathered pace and bonds came under pressure, pushing up yields.

The CAC 40 was last down 0.6%, having risen by as much as 0.6% after Barnier's concessions. The euro fell 1% and was heading for its largest one-day drop since early November. The yield on French government 10-year debt was up 2.7 basis points to 2.923%, having traded at a session low of 2.861% earlier.

'CHAOS'

Mathilde Panot of the left-wing France Unbowed, said: "Faced with this umpteenth denial of democracy, we will censure the government ... We are living in political chaos because of Michel Barnier's government and Emmanuel Macron's presidency."

Barnier urged lawmakers not to back the no-confidence vote.

"We are at a moment of truth ... The French will not forgive us for putting the interests of individuals before the future of the country," he said as he put his government's fate in the hands of the divided parliament which was the result of an inconclusive snap election Macron called in June.

Since it was formed in September, Barnier's minority government has relied on RN support for its survival. The budget bill, which seeks to rein in France's spiraling public deficit through 60 billion euros ($63 billion) in tax hikes and spending cuts, snapped that tenuous link.

Barnier's entourage and Le Pen's camp each blamed the other and said they had done all they could to reach a deal and had been open to dialogue.

A source close to Barnier said the prime minister had made major concessions to Le Pen and that voting to bring down the government would mean losing those gains.

"Is she ready to sacrifice all the wins she got?" the source close to Barnier told Reuters.