Did obama appoint tom homan as executive for immigration customs enforcement
Executive summary
Yes — Thomas (Tom) Homan was appointed during the Obama administration as ICE’s executive associate director (sometimes described as assistant/assistant director) for Enforcement and Removal Operations in 2013, a senior career-post within Immigration and Customs Enforcement that oversaw deportation work [1] [2] [3]. Reporting also shows he later became acting ICE director under President Trump in January 2017, which is the source of much public confusion about who appointed him to which role [1] [4].
1. The career law‑man behind the headlines
Homan is a long‑time law enforcement official — a former police officer, Border Patrol agent and ICE investigator — whose career spans decades and multiple administrations, and that background is repeatedly noted in profiles and agency statements [4] [3] [5]. He was recognized inside government for his enforcement work, receiving a Presidential Rank Award in 2015 during the Obama years, a distinction cited in multiple outlets [1] [6].
2. The 2013 appointment: what the record says
Contemporaneous and retrospective sources state clearly that in 2013 Homan was appointed to lead Enforcement and Removal Operations at ICE — variously described as executive associate director or assistant director for enforcement — a senior civil‑service management role responsible for deportation operations [1] [2] [7] [3]. Multiple news outlets and Homan bios repeat the 2013 appointment date and the job title linked to enforcement and removals [1] [2] [7].
3. What that position meant in practice
The Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) portfolio is ICE’s deportation arm; as its executive associate director Homan managed strategies, methods and tools used to identify, arrest, detain and remove noncitizens — and under Obama the unit achieved high removal numbers that critics highlighted as evidence of rigorous enforcement [2] [8] [3]. The Department of Homeland Security’s statement when Homan later became acting director summarized his role as leading ICE efforts to “identify, arrest, detain, and remove illegal aliens” and emphasized his decades of immigration enforcement experience [4].
4. Why some reporting confuses the appointing authority
Confusion arises because Homan’s profile straddles two administrations: he was elevated into the ERO leadership under Obama but then was appointed acting ICE director by President Trump on January 30, 2017 — a Trump appointment that drew attention and controversy [1] [4]. Many headlines focus on his visible role under Trump (acting director and later “border czar”), which can make earlier Obama‑era appointments seem contradictory unless the timeline is noted [9] [5].
5. The political lens and the competing narratives
Different outlets frame Homan’s Obama appointment for different reasons: some emphasize that he is an Obama‑era civil‑service official who rose on merit and received a Presidential Rank Award [6] [8], while immigrant‑advocacy reporting stresses that ERO under his leadership contributed to high deportation figures and developed enforcement approaches later associated with Trump policies [8] [1]. Both narratives are supported by reporting: the appointment under Obama and the later policy controversies under Trump are documented in the sources provided [1] [8] [3].
6. Verification, caveats and what the sources do not show
Primary public records and multiple reputable outlets in the provided set corroborate that Obama’s administration placed Homan in the ERO leadership in 2013, and that later he was designated acting ICE director by Trump in 2017 [1] [4] [7]. The sources vary in the exact phrasing of the job title (executive associate director, assistant director for enforcement, assistant director), but they consistently locate his ERO appointment in 2013 under Obama [1] [2] [3]. The material here does not include original appointment memos from DHS or White House archives; the conclusion rests on agency statements, contemporary reporting and official bios cited above [4] [7].
Conclusion
The factual record in the provided reporting answers the core question directly and unambiguously: Thomas D. Homan was appointed to lead ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in 2013 during the Obama administration, and that prior Obama‑era role is distinct from the acting‑director appointment he received from President Trump in January 2017 [1] [4] [7]. The overlap of service across administrations and differing job titles in summaries account for the common public confusion.