Tom Homan, who previously led the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency from January 2017 to June 2018, has been appointed by President-elect Trump as the “border czar” in his upcoming administration. Having promised to establish “the biggest deportation force this country has ever seen,”
Homan oversaw ICE during a period marked by large-scale immigration raids in 2018. These operations led to family separations within communities, resulting in single-parent households, deteriorating mental and physical health, increased school absences, and a reluctance to access healthcare and social services among immigrant populations.
Homan asserts that he plans to implement Trump’s immigration agenda in a “humane manner.” However, my extensive work with immigrant communities across the country, along with comprehensive research, advocacy efforts, and congressional testimony, indicates that worksite raids are far from humane.
Tom Homan appointed as Trump’s “border czar” with plans for an expanded deportation agenda
While these raids may have received less attention compared to the administration’s family separation policy at the border, they still represent humanitarian crises that deserve public recognition. During the summer of 2018, while Homan was acting director of ICE, the agency resumed large-scale worksite raids across the U.S., targeting areas in Tennessee, Iowa, Ohio, Nebraska, and Texas.
Each of these raids typically resulted in the detention of between 32 and 159 workers, with most exceeding 100 detainees. The subsequent summer, ICE conducted the largest workplace raid in a decade in Allen, Texas, apprehending 284 individuals, followed by a massive statewide operation in Mississippi, which led to the arrest of 680 workers in six cities. Homan was in charge of ICE during the first four of these raids.
Collaborating with community epidemiologist Nicole Novak and a group of public health students, we traveled to the six locations affected by the summer 2018 raids to interview a diverse array of individuals impacted, including detainees, their families, community leaders, lawyers, educators, and advocates for immigrants.
The chaos and disruption caused by worksite raids were evident in the communities affected. Residents witnessed helicopters, buses, and ICE vehicles converging on worksites, prompting families to panic. When we inquired about their experiences during the raids, many described them as akin to natural disasters, school shootings, or war.
During a raid, uncertainty reigns regarding who will be taken, when it will conclude, and whether enforcement actions might extend into nearby neighborhoods. This uncertainty leads community members to shutter windows and doors or seek refuge in churches or gymnasiums to evade ICE. Concerns over potential deportation or the loss of a primary income source contribute to declines in both physical and mental health among community members.
Emerging research highlights the detrimental impacts of worksite raids on the education of Latino students. Following a raid at a meat-processing facility in Bean Station, Tennessee, approximately 500 students were absent from local schools in the days afterward.
On the first day of school in Mississippi, 25 percent of Latino students were absent the day after a raid. A Princeton University sociology graduate student, Sofia Avila, discovered declining passing rates among Latino students after a raid on an electronics plant in Allen, Texas, with similar findings following a raid at the Load Trail manufacturing facility in Sumner, Texas.
Homan’s tenure at ICE marked by controversial enforcement strategies
Although these raids had severe consequences, they were largely overshadowed by the family separation crisis occurring at the border during the same summer of 2018. The Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance policy,” known for separating families, incited massive public outrage.
Numerous journalists, health and social service organizations—including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics—and many celebrities exerted pressure on the administration to end the policy. Consequently, Trump took executive action to terminate what the ACLU described as “one of the darkest chapters of the Trump administration.”
The harmful impacts of the family separation crisis extend to the repercussion of worksite raids. Family separations—illustrated in the documentary “Separated,” produced by Jacob Soboroff and Errol Morris—are a crucial aspect of all forms of deportation.
However, because these raids receive less visibility and do not align with the narrative of immigrants crossing the southern border, they often go unnoticed, limiting public mobilization and advocacy for policy reform.
As a public health researcher who has studied and documented the repercussions of worksite raids, it is evident that the harm extends beyond the undocumented individuals arrested.
Health professionals, educators, religious leaders, lawyers, and the broader community must be ready to address these consequences and mobilize against such raids with the same vigor as the opposition to family separation, especially with Homan, who facilitated both enforcement types, set to take a prominent role in the second Trump administration.
