(The Center Square) – Border czar Tom Homan told reporters that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations will expand after Labor Day in sanctuary cities nationwide, including Seattle, Wash., and Portland, Ore.
“You’re going to see a ramp up of operations in New York. You’re going to see a ramp up of operations continue in L.A. and, you know, Portland, Seattle,” Homan told reporters gathered near the White House. “I mean, all these sanctuary cities refuse to work with ICE … we’re going to address that.”
Homan said some other states are complying and working with ICE.
“We don’t have that problem in Texas and Florida, where all the sheriffs are working with us and they’re actually holding people for us and letting us know when someone’s being released,” he said. “So, we’re going to take the assets we have and move them to problem areas like sanctuary cities, where we know for a fact they’re releasing public safety threat illegal aliens to the streets every day. That’s where we need to send the majority of the resources, and that’s where they’re going.”
Homan was in Portland on Aug. 21 to meet with ICE personnel. After the visit, Portland Mayor Keith Wilson reaffirmed the city’s sanctuary status and said city employees, including police officers, will not assist in ICE operations.
“I was in San Diego and Portland in the last week meeting with the men and women of ICE to understand the hate that’s being pushed against them and letting them know the President has their six,” Homan said. “I have their six.”
The Center Square contacted Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office on Friday for comment on what the nation’s border czar had to say.
“Seattle will not be intimidated by the Trump administration’s threats. Suggesting that federal immigration raids or deployments of federal agents could soon target our city is not about public safety – it’s about political theater and an overreach of federal authority,” said Harrell in a statement emailed to The Center Square. “Seattle is a welcoming city, and our policies comply with both federal and state law. Immigration enforcement is the federal government’s responsibility, not the city’s, and we will not allow our police resources to be commandeered for political purposes.
“We are already working closely with Gov. [Bob] Ferguson and Attorney General [Nick] Brown, and have asked the City Attorney’s Office to review every legal option available to protect our residents. We have successfully taken this administration to court before … over its attempts to punish sanctuary cities, and we are prepared to do so again. We will stand firm, protect our communities, and preserve local control over our public safety resources. Seattle’s values are not up for negotiation.”
Homan said enforcement operations across the country are improving public safety for Americans.
“I look at the numbers every morning,” he said. “There’s about 22 pages of data; 70% of everybody arrested is a criminal,” he said. “But the left says, ‘Well, not criminal enough. It’s just a DUI.’ DUIs kill over 10,000 people a year. That’s a public safety threat. I don’t care what anybody thinks.”
As for the other 30% of arrestees, Homan explained, “We arrested thousands of national security threats. Many of them don’t have a criminal history because their whole goal is to lay low ‘til they do their dirty deed. Gang members. A lot of gang members don’t have a criminal history.”
He concluded, “And finally, final deportation orders. People who had due process at great taxpayer expense. They were ordered removed by a federal judge, and they didn’t leave. And we’re looking for them, too, because we’re sending a message to the whole world. It’s not okay to enter this country illegally. It’s a crime.”