Tom Homan to increase U.S. northern border security focus

Tom Homan, the border security official for the Trump administration, announced plans to increase focus on the northern border over the next two years. Homan identified the U.S.-Canada border as a “huge national security vulnerability,” suggesting that resources including manpower, technology, and infrastructure should be redirected there now that the southern border is more secure.

According to Homan, the administration prioritized the southern border because it represented the most immediate crisis, comparing the strategy to sending firefighters to the largest fire. He noted that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported daily apprehensions at the southern border were 94 percent lower than during the Biden administration.

Regarding the northern border, Homan cited concerns over Canada’s “very lax” immigration laws and intelligence reports suggesting it is easier for security threats to enter through Canada before crossing into the United States. CBP recorded 563 apprehensions along the northern border in August and 586 in July across the shared 5,500-mile border.