Former acting ICE Director Tom Homan is “honored” to be appointed as the “border czar” for the incoming second Trump administration, and he is willing to do whatever it takes to get the crisis under control.

“I’ve been on this network for years complaining about what this government has done to this border. I have yelled and screamed about it and what they need to do to fix the problem. So when the president asked me, ‘Do you want to come? back and fix it?’ Of course I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t. “I’m honored that the president asked me to come back and help solve this national security crisis, so I’m looking forward to it,” he told Fox & Friends. Monday in his first interview since being tapped for the role.

“I think the calling is clear,” he continued, “I have to go back and help, because every morning… I’m pissed off about what this (Biden) administration has done to the most secure border in my lifetime, so I’m going to go back and do what I can to fix it.”

Trump announced his decision to tap Homan for the position in his new administration in a post on Truth Social on Sunday, filling the role currently held by Vice President Kamala Harris.

TRUMP APPOINTS FORMER ICE DIRECTOR TOM HOMAN AS NEXT ‘BORDER CZAR’: NO ONE IS BETTER AT GUARDING OUR BORDERS’

Tom Homan, the Trump administration’s former head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), was appointed as Trump’s border czar for his incoming administration. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

The number of illegal border crossings under the Biden administration has increased dramatically, reaching nearly 3 million in fiscal year 2024. The Homeland Security website. More than 10.8 million illegal encounters have occurred since fiscal year 2021.

Trump has made illegal immigration an integral part of his campaign message since 2016. During this election cycle, as illegal migrants flooded communities across the US and sidelined major cities like New York City, he offered an alternative vision to that of the Biden-Harris administration, focusing on calls for mass deportations and the construction of border walls, and on reinstating now-rescinded executive orders from his previous term.

Homan said this tough border policy would mean prioritizing illegal immigrants who pose a threat to public safety or national security. He specifically mentioned drug cartels and sex trafficking.

EX-ACTING ICE CREAM DIRECTOR SAYS MASS DEPORTATION POSSIBLE WITHOUT SEPARATION IF THEY ARE ‘DEPORTED TOGETHER’

U.S. President-elect and then presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at the U.S.-Mexico border south of Sierra Vista, Arizona, on August 22, 2024. Trump is holding a rally tomorrow in Glendale, Arizona. (Rebecca Noble)

“I know exactly what I’m doing, and this is the second time I’ve retired for this president because it matters. I was a Border Patrol agent, I wore that uniform and I’m proud that I wore that uniform. I was an ICE agent. “I was the first ICE director to come through the ranks, so the 20,000 men and women who worked for me, I asked them not to do anything that I wouldn’t do myself because I was one of them,” he said.

Since Friday, Homan has been inundated with calls, texts and emails amid rumors he is returning. Many came from ICE agents who he said were excited about his return.

“But more importantly, thousands of retired agents and retired military personnel (have called) who want to come and volunteer to help this president secure the border and carry out this deportation operation,” Homan added.

However, death threats have also surfaced, but he remains determined not to give in to the pressure.

‘That is something we are working on. They’re not going to shut me up. They’re not going to force me to leave. This is the greatest national security vulnerability this country has seen since 9/11. to fix it.”

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Scott McDonald of Fox News contributed to this report.