RICH LOWRY: The vindication of Tom Homan

RICH LOWRY: The vindication of Tom Homan Rich Lowry King Features Syndicate September 7, 2026 - 9:00 pm Tom Homan’s approach to immigration enforcement is proving effective despite early skepticism. When Trump appointed Homan as the administration’s border czar, critics anticipated a retreat from the president’s hard‑line stance. Gregory Bovino, the former official overseeing operations in Minneapolis before Homan’s arrival, claimed Homan was merely appearing tough while scaling back deportations. The data tell a different story. In June, immigration arrests reached 43,000, climbing to 50,000 in July. Removals also peaked that month at 34,000. A brief dip followed Trump’s decision to pull back from Minneapolis, but the trend reversed after the administration settled on a new strategy and the Big Beautiful Bill delivered $75 billion in additional ICE funding. Homan has steered clear of the flashy tactics favored by former DHS head Kristi Noem, who had dispatched Bovino to Minneapolis. Instead, he has pursued steady enforcement without courting dramatic, militarized raids or seeking confrontations with protesters. Consequently, anti‑ICE activists lament the lack of spectacle. His current strategy emphasizes routine apprehensions—traffic stops, immigration checkpoints, and airport screenings—rather than high‑profile operations. Recent coverage has noted that, for the first time, a majority of those detained have not committed crimes beyond their immigration violations. Critics argue that the administration’s rhetoric still overemphasizes going after “the worst of the worst,” yet there is no justification for letting routine immigration offenders off the hook. Remaining in the country unlawfully does not automatically constitute a threat to public safety, but it often coincides with other offenses such as identity theft, Social Security fraud, and falsified I‑9 forms. Immigration law unequivocally authorizes the detention and removal of undocumented immigrants, and in many cases it mandates such action. ICE must detain individuals subject to final removal orders, and such orders are plentiful. Andrew Arthur of the Center for Immigration Studies reported that immigration judges issued roughly half a million removal orders in the first nine months of this fiscal year. The undocumented migrant population in the United States stands at about 15 million, a figure swollen during the Biden administration. Reducing that population requires either apprehending and deporting those here illegally or encouraging them to leave voluntarily to avoid enforcement. Homan believes the politically sustainable path lies in pursuing enforcement discreetly, keeping it out of the headlines as much as possible. He suggests that further gains could be made by deploying various bureaucratic tools to pressure businesses that hire undocumented workers. For now, Homan has demonstrated that a low‑key, yet effective, enforcement model can work. While much remains to be done, he has never waved the white flag on enforcement, and the latest numbers confirm his approach is yielding results. Rich Lowry is connected X @RichLowry.