Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and President Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, are barely on speaking terms due to a deep-seated fued between the faces of the administration’s border crackdown.
Despite the simmering tension, neither official is in danger of losing their job, according to a Thursday report by Axios.
“Kristi’s doing a great job,” Trump reportedly told an adviser recently who relayed the conversation to the outlet. “Her and Tom don’t get along, but they’re doing great.”
“Trump is like that,” this person explained. “He kind of likes people competing against each other. He thinks it makes the product better.”
A second White House adviser who dislikes Noem was more blunt: “He’s happy with his Cabinet. Do I wish Kristi was gone? Absolutely. But that ain’t happening. At least, not that he’ll tell me.”
The origin of the rift between Noem, 54, and Homan, 64, is unclear, but Axios reported that career immigration officials have bristled at Noem’s approach to running DHS — including fronting ads promoting initiatives like the CBP Home self-deportation app.
Stalwarts reportedly have also taken issue with the influence of Noem’s top adviser and de facto chief of staff, Trump campaign veteran Corey Lewandowski, who is classified as a special government employee and can only work in the administration for 130 days.
Noem’s allies have similarly castigated Homan as a self-promoter, citing his regular appearances on Fox News and gaggles with the White House press corps on the driveway of the executive mansion.
Meanwhile, Fox News reported in October that Noem, Lewandowski, and Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino were advocating indiscriminate roundups of illegal aliens in the US to boost deportation numbers — while Homan and acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons wanted to focus efforts on those with criminal records.
“ICE started off with the worst of the worst, knowing every target they are hitting, but since Border Patrol came to LA in June, we’ve lost our focus, going too hard, too fast, with limited prioritization,” one senior DHS official told Fox at the time. “It’s getting numbers, but at what cost?”
“ICE is arresting criminal aliens,” another official claimed. “They [Border Patrol] are hitting Home Depots and car washes.”
