President Donald Trump’s border czar reiterated an explosive warning in a televised interview Tuesday that name-checked Portland, repeatedly pledging that immigration agents would be “doubling down, tripling down” on enforcement in sanctuary cities.
Czar Tom Homan’s comments came toward the end of a six-minute interview on Fox Business in which he defended agents for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from what he described as “hurtful rhetoric” that he said compared ICE officers to Nazis, terrorists and racists, which he believes could end in “bloodshed.” He said enforcement will continue to make the “country safe.”
Homan said some Republican-led states, like Florida, are cooperating with federal authorities on immigration enforcement, enabling more resources to be deployed in sanctuary cities, such as Portland, New York,Chicago and Los Angeles, which don’t cooperate with federal authorities on immigration enforcement.
The Fox host teed up Homan by alleging that mayors in sanctuary cities are helping “foment the violence.” The host referenced the small ongoing protest outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Portland, where 22 people have been arrested since early June, and the push back from officials in New York City, Chicago and Boston.
Homan said federal officials won’t back down from doing the job Trump was voted into office to carry out – mass deportations.
“I’m going to Portland,” Homan said. “I’m going out there. They are not going to bully us … we’re going to do the job. We’re doing it in Portland too. But for the mayor of New York City and Chicago, President Trump made it clear two weeks ago, we’re going to double down and triple down in sanctuary cities.”
That marked the first of three times Homan used the rhetorical talking point about increasing enforcement.
Indeed, immigration arrests in many states across the nation have been surging, sparking some large protests. Last month in Los Angeles, Trump deployed the National Guard to quell protesters despite objections from Gov. Gavin Newsom. Los Angeles continues to be a major target for immigration enforcement. A heavy convoy of immigration officers and members of the National Guard stormed a park at the heart of the city on Monday morning. At one point, Mayor Karen Bass stopped by, spoke to the official in charge of the operation by phone and asked them to leave.
Large protests have also erupted in New York City and Chicago in recent weeks over immigration arrests.
Homan said all sheriffs in Florida have agreed to work with federal authorities.
“They’re not releasing illegal alien public safety threats,” he said. “They’re calling us so we can spend less resources in Florida and send them to New York, Chicago and to Portland, and L.A. We’re going to double down and triple down on ... sanctuary cities.”
By one imperfect measure, immigration arrests in Oregon have quadrupled. Federal agents have arrested construction and vineyard workers on their way to work and detained others at or near the federal courthouse following immigration hearings.
Homan said if immigration agents are not able to detain immigrants in local jails because of sanctuary policies, then ICE officers will go into the community and do “more worksite enforcement.”
He said that when immigration enforcement ramps up, authorities will not only detain their targets but will go after anybody who’s in the country without legal status.
“So, what you’re going to get, sanctuary cities, is exactly what you don’t want,” Homan warned. “More agents in your communities and more collateral arrest. That’s what we’re going to do. We’re doubling down, tripling down.”
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