In 2016, after Donald Trump’s victory in the White House, The Wall Street Journal reported that his campaign staff seemed stunned by the scale of hiring and appointments needed for a new administration. The stumbling start to Trump’s first administration delayed the draconian policy platform that won Trump the White House — and it’s not a mistake he’s willing to make twice.

Days after winning a second term, the now president-elect is already finalizing a list of new administration officials, none more closely aligned with his agenda than Tom Homan, Trump’s former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and an employee of Project 2025. Trump on Sunday called Homan ‘Border Czar’ for the new administration.

“I am pleased to announce that former ICE Director, and avid border patrol officer, Tom Homan, will be joining the Trump Administration in charge of our nation’s borders (‘The Border Czar’), including , but not limited to, the Southern border, the Northern border, all maritime and aviation security,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday.

“Tom Homan will be responsible for all deportations of illegal aliens back to their countries of origin. Congratulations to Tom. I have no doubt he will do a fantastic and long-awaited job,” Trump added.

Under the first Trump administration, Homan gained infamy as a prominent supporter and enforcer of the president-elect’s “zero tolerance” policy on undocumented immigration — a policy that led to the separation of thousands of migrant children from their parents in migrant detention centers.

Homan — who broke deportation records as head of ICE’s deportation division under the Obama administration — remains one of the most uncompromising anti-immigration hawks in Trump’s inner circle. “Trump is coming back in January, I will be on his heels and I will lead the largest deportation force this country has ever seen,” Homan said during a panel on immigration policy in July. ‘They haven’t seen anything yet. Wait until 2025.”

Last month, Homan told CBS News’ 60 minutes that raids on workplaces and roundups of undocumented immigrants would be “necessary” to achieve the Trump administration’s deportation goals, but that “my priorities are first the threats to public safety and the threats to national security.”

When asked if there is a way to carry out mass deportations without separating families, Homan said “of course there is” and that “families can be deported together.”

In the interim between his work in Trump’s first administration and his most recent appointment, Homan has actively helped shape policy for a possible second Trump term. In 2022, Homan became a fellow at The Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank behind Project 2025, and contributed to the sweeping policy project’s immigration package. Despite Trump’s public claims during the campaign that he had “no idea” who was involved in Project 2025, his new “Border Czar” was among 140 former Trump advisers, employees and government officials identified by CNN as associates with its creation.

Project 2025’s immigration platform includes mass deportations, expanded detention options, and the severe curtailment of existing visa programs that would grant legal status to migrants entering the country. According to NOUTS, the reporting arm of the Allbritton Journalism Institute, since Trump’s victory last week, Heritage Foundation staff have been privately celebrating how they “misled the Libs into believing Project 2025 wasn’t real.” Right-wing commentators have publicly rejoiced at X, formerly Twitter.

Homan joins an administration that has placed a massive target on the immigrant community, and he has the support of a willing and prepared vast universe of right-wing allies. Last week, Trump said he was willing to essentially write a blank check to pay for his vision for immigration enforcement.

“There’s no price tag on it,” he told NBC News on Thursday. “When people have killed and murdered, when drug lords have destroyed countries, and now they’re going back to those countries because they won’t stay here. There is no price tag.”

Homan agrees. “What price are you putting on national security?” he asked CBS News’ Cecilia Vega last month when asked about the expected costs of mass deportations.