The Trump administration was on edgeThe big immigration rally last week in Newarkthe first in the blue state since its operation stalled in Minneapolis earlier this year.
As of Thursday, the White House had sent Tom Homan to meet with state and local government officials, as he hadtensions in Minnesota escalated. The administration helped secure the Delaney Hall detention center, and the border king met with local Democrats and state police, claiming they later agreed to many of his demands, including setting up protest zones. Democrats saidThe Department of Homeland Security complied with their requestrestore family visitation to the detention center.
“We all thought Tom would offer a compromise,” said one administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
Whether calm prevails remains to be seen, but the decision to send Homan shows the playbook the administration is increasingly relying on to respond to the growing unrest. And it insiststhe enduring influence of the border kingwithin the Trump administration as one of the president’s top aides on immigration policy.
As an adviser to the president and DHS, the 40-year veteran of immigration enforcement has emerged as a key figure in handling sensitive immigration disputes in blue states.They are often set asideduring high-profile discussions of DHS enforcement strategy during the administration of former Secretary Kristi Noem, she has become the administration’s preferred delegate for talks with Democratic officials as opposition to the president’s immigration agenda grows.
People close to the White House note that Homan, who was awarded apresidential awardfor his work as the top immigration official under former President Barack Obama, he has street credibility with Democrats in a way that other top Trump officials do not. The White House tapped him in Minneapolis to take over the operation after two US citizens were killed by federal agents, and he was also one ofsenior leaders discussing immigration fundingon Capitol Hill, although the White House and Democrats ultimately failed to reach an agreement.
“Where Stephen Miller is tied at the waist by someone like Trump – so they won’t negotiate with Miller – the Democrats might be willing to have some kind of negotiation with Homan,” said a Republican close to the White House, who did not want to be identified to talk about power.
The administration haschanged its approachfor immigration enforcement since the surge in Minneapolis earlier this year went awry. DHS has new leadership, officials have abandoned the high-profile, high-profile raids that drew national attention and bipartisan criticism, and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin has abandoned much of thethe controversial policies of Noem’s era.But the unrest at Delaney Hall in Newark underscores that despite the reforms, opposition to the president’s immigration agenda remains, particularly in Democratic strongholds where local leaders and activists remain eager to oppose enforcement action.
Still, when local officials announced Thursday that they plan to reduce the local police presence outside Delaney Hall, Homan issued a public threat to bring in the National Guard, which could further escalate tensions.
“You have to do your job of public safety,” Homan saidFox News.“And if you don’t, President Trump has no problem sending the National Guard here.”
Last week, photos and videos appearedfierce fightingbetween protesters and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents outside Delaney Hall, a 1,000-bed immigration detention center, amid allegations of poor conditions and a hunger strike by detainees. Democratic lawmakers showed up at the center, denouncing the detention conditions and accusing agents of violence against protesters. Mullin added fuel to the fire when he threatened to remove customs officials from Newark Liberty International Airport, a warning that three administration officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity, shocked some inside the administration andit raised fears of travel chaosin the aviation industry.
Homan spent five days in the field, meeting with local and state Democratic officials, as well as local law enforcement to discuss options to quell the protests. He appeared at Delaney Hall and ate pasta with the inmates, in a bid to counter allegations of “unsanitary” conditions.
He said this week that he met with Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, the police chief, state troopers and also had several phone calls with Governor Mikie Sherrill.
“From the minute I walked in and talked to the mayor and the police chief, I said ‘we need you to stop traffic in that area … we need you to set up protest zones so they can protest peacefully,'” Homan said on Fox. “We need law enforcement to do their public safety job because up until that point, they weren’t responding to 911 calls from our officers being assaulted. So I left that meeting with about 70 percent of what I wanted, but within hours, we got everything we wanted.”
New Jersey Democrats have also claimed credit for helping to calm the volatile situation. Sherrill sent State Police to an anti-ICE protest in Newark in an effort to“turn down the heat”and avoid further federal interference. Many of these announcements came after Homan’s arrival in town: the day after he touched down, Sherrill announced plans to set up protest zones. A curfew was also announced last weekend, which has since been lifted.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson pointed to Homan’s decades of law enforcement experience and “proven track record” in helping to fulfill the president’s vow to deport illegal immigrants. He said he has “repeatedly proven how effective he is in advancing” the president’s agenda across the country, “working with both Democrat and Republican government officials.”
Democrats, including Baraka, are reluctant to give Homan much credit for easing tensions on behalf of the White House. He acknowledged that Homan advocated for a larger local police presence and in recent days, State Police and then Newark Police intervened to keep protesters away from Delaney Hall. But the Democratic mayor of New Jersey’s largest city rejected the idea that Homan influenced his decisions.
“He asked us to do things that we refused to do,” Baraka said Tuesday during a press conference. “Ultimately, our decisions, us being up front in Delaney Hall, have nothing to do with Tom Homan.”
Homan is a hard-line Democrat, still viewed as one of the architects of the Trump administration’s family separation policy and one of the loudest defenders of the president’s vow to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. But Trump’s aides and allies also argue against anyone, his expertise on immigration — and lack of broad political ambitions — gives him a good chance to negotiate with the left.
“I think for many people, he is a person who is pushing the agenda of many people to be expelled from the country. But for him this is not an ideological matter, or a political matter. It is a message that should not be politicized at all. He was respected by the people, the main political appointees under the Obama administration,” said a second person close to the White House, who could not be identified.
“For him, it’s a very clear mission, and there’s a common sense, practical need and he feels he can make people understand that.”
Ry Rivard and Dasha Burns contributed to this report.
