The Trump Administration is not playing games with sanctuary cities. Instead, the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security are engaging in a full-court press targeting the illegal alien-protecting jurisdictions, with the DOJ threatening sanctuary officials with jail time and their cities with a cut off of federal funding as ICE and DHS engage in massive sweeps targeting the sanctuary cities.
As background, it is Attorney General Pam Bondi who has been leading the DOJ’s share of the crackdown on sanctuary jurisdictions. First, she and her team established which specific jurisdictions aren’t working with federal immigration authorities, then she warned them of their status as sanctuary jurisdictions, and then she informed them that they will start facing suits, funding losses, and even jail time if they don’t comply. She has stood resolutely by that message, even as they have vowed defiance.
Border Czar Tom Homan, for his part, has meanwhile led the DHS side of the crackdown alongside DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, using ICE, Border Patrol, and other agents as a bludgeon against sanctuary cities in massive sweeps that detain illegal aliens within the sanctuary jurisdictions and show that nowhere is safe.
Speaking in a press conference in late July, the Border Czar announced that the ICE sweeps will be getting all the bigger, as he will be ensuring the criminals are cracked down upon. His comments came after a Border Patrol officer was shot and wounded in a robbery that turned near-deadly in New York City.
Homan said, commenting on the wounded CBP officer, “I visited the officer last night, of course, he was heavily sedated, so I didn’t have words with him,” he said. “But I did talk to his family. They’re devastated. It’s just — it’s just a shock to the soul when you walk in and see that young man laying there.”
Continuing, Homan vowed to “flood the zone” with federal immigration officers who will crack down on illegal immigration, wherever it may be found. He began that part of his tirade by calling out the jurisdictions, saying, “Every sanctuary city is unsafe. I’ll say it again. Sanctuary cities are sanctuaries for criminals.”
That’s when he got to his comments about flooding sanctuary cities with officers, saying, “I want to work very hard with Secretary Noem to keep President Trump’s promise and his commitment several weeks ago that sanctuary cities are now our priority. We’re going to flood the zone. You don’t want to let us in the jail to arrest a bad guy in the safety and security of a jail. You want to release him into the street when he makes it makes it unsafe for the community, makes it unsafe for the officer, makes it unsafe for the alien. So what we’re going to do when more agents in New York City to look for that bad guy so sanctuary cities get exactly what they don’t want, more agents in the community and more agents in the worksite.”
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He then noted that illegals will be arrested anywhere they are found, saying, “If we can’t arrest that bad guy in the safety and security of county jail. Don’t rest him in the community, and we’ll arrest him in the jail, and we arrest him in the community. If he’s with others that are in the country illegally, they’re coming too. Sanctuary cities are sanctuaries for criminals.”
Watch Homan here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video