Donald Trump’s acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement—and his pick to lead the agency going forward—went on Fox News Tuesday evening and showed why Trump likes him so much: He’s a raving deportation-happy thug. Thomas Homan called for the leaders of sanctuary cities to be charged with crimes and threatened increased deportation raids in places that defy him:
“We gotta take [sanctuary cities] to court, and we gotta start charging some of these politicians with crimes," Homan said in an interview with Fox News’ Neil Cavuto, explaining he believed politicians who pushed sanctuary city legislation should be held "personally accountable” for their actions. [...]
“I think it’s terrible–you got the state of California that wants to put politics ahead of public safety, ahead of officer safety. What they have done is forced my officers to arrest dangerous criminals on their turf, in their homes and places of business, rather than arresting them in the safety and security of a county jail. It’s ridiculous to annoyingly and intentionally put law enforcement at risk,” he said.
“If he thinks he’s protecting immigrant communities, he’s doing quite the opposite because if he thinks ICE is going away, we’re not. There’s no sanctuary from federal law enforcement. Matter of fact we’re in the process now… I’m going to significantly increase our enforcement presence in California, we’re already doing it.”
“California better hold on tight. There’s about to see a lot more special agents, a lot more deportation hours in the state of California,” he added.
This isn't a new threat, though. Homan made the same threat back in October, and ICE targeted sanctuary cities for raids back in September. That’s despite (or because of?) a series of court losses for the Trump administration on sanctuary cities. And Homan’s bluster about safety is in sharp contrast to what Tucson’s police said last month about the “chilling effect” of Trump administration policies on policing in immigrant communities:
When crime victims and witnesses are unwilling to testify because they’re afraid an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent will be waiting to arrest them at the courtroom doors, real criminals go unpunished. It means drug dealers and people who commit domestic and sexual violence are free to exploit a voiceless class of victims; such criminals become a threat to us all.
It’s a simple formula. When crimes go unreported and unsolved, criminals are empowered.
A recent study also found that “Municipalities that chose to designate themselves as sanctuary cities for undocumented immigrants experience crime rates no higher than they otherwise would.”
But Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions and Thomas Homan care more about vilifying immigrants and destroying their lives and their families than they care about keeping cities safe.