Liberal cities will see an uptick in the presence of ICE agents, President Donald Trump’s border czar warned.
Tom Homan revealed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement will ‘ramp up’ operations in sanctuary cities on the west coast as well as in New York and Chicago.
He also told the Daily Mail outside the White House on Thursday that all major cities in California will have agents carrying out immigration operations for the foreseeable future.
‘We’re gonna be in LA today, we’re gonna be in LA tomorrow, we’re gonna be in every California city. We’ll be in San Diego,’ Homan said.
It’s unclear if Homan is being hyperbolic when he says ‘every’ city in California will have ICE agents in them.
But it’s likely he’s at least referencing the large cities known for being sanctuaries for undocumented immigrants – including Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and the capital Sacramento.
Last week, Homan visited ICE agents in San Diego, Seattle and Portland for a listening session on the ‘hate being pushed against them.
‘They’re going to keep doing the job without apology,’ he said of the agents whose immigration round ups have come under immense scrutiny from anti-ICE groups.
But Homan doubled-down on Thursday, telling reporters at the White House that missions will only ‘ramp up’ from here.
‘You’re going to see a ramp up of operations in New York,’ he insisted. ‘You’re going to see a ramp up of operations continue in LA. You know, Portland, Seattle.’
‘I mean, all these sanctuary cities that refuse to work with ICE where we know public safety threats are being released every day into this country – especially those cities, we’re going to address that,’ Homan said.
ICE agents are also among those who have been tapped to address violent crime in Washington, D.C.
Trump invoked earlier this month a 30-day emergency power allowing his federal law enforcement agencies and the National Guard to take federal control of the police force operations in the nation’s capital.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has accused Trump of using ICE as his ‘private army.’
When asked by the Daily Mail about this comment, Homan tore into the Democrat leader of the Golden State.
‘Gavin Newsom is an embarrassment to the position he holds. Hard stop,’ he said, adding: ‘He’s trying to be relevant apparently, whatever.’
‘If he had an ounce of integrity, he would be calling President Trump and thanking President Trump for making LA safer,’ the border czar went on.
‘He’d be calling the head of ICE and thanking them for the thousands of criminals, public safety threats they’ve taken off the streets of California. He’d be calling Secretary Noem, thanking her.’
‘If the data proves it – anybody can look at the data, who we’ve arrested in California, he ought to be thanking us,’ Homan concluded.
Californian cities have long been a target of Trump’s immigration hawks.
ICE conducted in May an operation in Los Angeles and its surrounding cities resulting in the arrest of 200 criminal aliens, illegal re-entrants and immigrant fugitives.
Most arrested were from Mexico.
At least eight of the individuals are facing federal prosecution for re-entry after they were already deported, which is a felony carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.