Security for Trump administration border czar Tom Homan costs more than $500,000 a month, multiple sources within the administration told CBS News, an amount that has drawn attention from allies of President Trump who have been seeking to shrink government spending.
The total cost of Homan’s security — with roughly $500,000 in salaries for agents plus airfare, hotel bills and other travel expenses for his protective bubble — adds up to around $1 million per month for the Trump appointee, another administration official said.
Homan declined to comment on Friday.
“DHS ensures our leaders are safe and protected,” Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin told CBS News Friday, citing “dangerous rhetoric” from politicians and activists surrounding the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts that result in an increase in assaults and doxxing, exposing someone’s identifying information online.
“We will continue to take measures to ensure Mr. Homan and his family are safe,” McLaughlin added. The Department of Homeland Security declined to confirm the cost.
Homan is trailed by a rotating detail of special agents from DHS’s investigative arm, known as Homeland Security Investigations or HSI, according to one of the sources, who added that roughly 30 agents trade off to provide round-the-clock protection to Homan. That would add up to about $12 million by year’s end.
The protection for Homan — which includes a security detail at his home, when he drives to his offices in the White House West Wing and at Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s D.C. headquarters, or when he is out in public — is paid for by DHS.
Homan, one of the faces of Mr. Trump’s pledge to conduct the largest deportation operation in U.S. history, has drawn threats from those who want to cause him harm, two of the sources familiar with his situation said.
Homeland Security Investigations has performed an intelligence threat assessment to gauge the risk to the border czar.
The question is whether he needs as much security as he has requested, said three of the sources, who requested anonymity in order to speak about sensitive security matters.
One administration official described the personnel and money funneled to Homan’s security detail as “extravagant,” adding they “sucked resources away from other senior leadership, including other cabinet members.”
The border czar at times travels in a four-vehicle motorcade — more cars than the two-car package cabinet members typically use.
During the Biden administration, the Trump campaign asked for protection for Homan but it was rejected, according to multiple sources.
Not every administration official who deals with public criticism is granted government-paid security.
The expense for officials with protection usually hits the higher range if they’re required to travel for their job.
The details for former Trump national security advisers John Bolton and Robert O’Brien, who were guarded by the U.S. Secret Service under the Biden administration, cost about $12 million a year, records show. During Mr. Trump’s first term, U.S. Marshals Service protection for Education Secretary Betsy Devos ranged annually from about $5 million to just under $8 million.
Homan frequently appears on television and in other media interviews, increasing his public profile — and he doesn’t mince words when it comes to the administration’s views on illegal immigration. He has argued for arresting U.S. citizens who knowingly harbor people who are in the country illegally or impede law enforcement efforts, and has called for drug cartels, which he said have an influence in southern border states, to be “wiped off the face of the earth.”
In November, Homan said that he began receiving death threats soon after Mr. Trump announced he’d appoint him to be border czar. He told Fox News’ “Fox and Friends” in February that he requires around-the-clock protection. “I got state troopers around my house 24-7 right now because of death threats,” Homan said.
The legislation containing Mr. Trump’s tax cuts, border and defense priorities would increase spending for DHS by $65 million, compared to last year, according to an analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
