Tom Homan was shaking hands with colleagues around President Barack Obama’s Department of Homeland Security in Jan. 2017, just days before President Donald Trump was set to take office for the first time. It was Homan’s retirement party, celebrating his more than 30 years of working in immigration enforcement.
But in the middle of saying goodbye to his colleagues, his chief of staff called. It was an emergency, she said. Amid packed-up boxes in his office, Homan took one more call.
On the line was Trump’s incoming Secretary of Homeland Security, John Kelly.
“I remember him saying, I know it was bad timing, but the president-elect wanted me to stay and run [ICE],” Homan told the Daily Caller.
Homan took the weekend to think about it. He had already accepted a retirement job in the private sector. He needed to talk to his family.
“Monday morning, I called [Kelly] and…
