It would appear acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director Thomas Homan usually has plenty of time to talk shit—during one of his multiple appearances on state propaganda channel Fox News, he suggested Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf may have committed obstruction of justice for calling on her immigrant residents to learn their rights in anticipation of an imminent raid—but that suddenly changed, for a very specific reason.
When California Attorney General Xavier Becerra requested a deposition from him following the Trump administration’s political stunt of a lawsuit against the state over its recent pro-immigrant laws, “the U.S. Department of Justice … argued that Homan was busy and his testimony wasn't needed,” ABC News reported. Judge Kendall Newman called B.S., ordering Homan to make himself available for as much as four hours of testimony by next month:
“You’ve made your point. It doesn’t fly anywhere,” Newman said.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced during a speech in Sacramento this month that the federal government is suing to block the California laws, the Republican administration’s toughest move yet to force cooperation with immigration authorities.
The suit is based in part on Homan’s 45-page written declaration citing several “egregious consequences” from the state’s lack of cooperation, including examples of California agencies releasing immigrants who could have been deported but instead were free to commit violent crimes.
By including Homan’s written statement, “you’re pretty much teeing that person up” to face cross-examination under oath, Newman said.
[U.S. Justice Department attorney Lauren] Bingham said Homan will give his deposition in a secure location in Washington, D.C., the second week of April.
Homan has a lot in common with his boss Donald Trump. They’re both nasty, they’re vindictive, and they lie.
Just this month, ICE’s former San Francisco spokesperson quit, “saying he couldn’t continue to do his job” after Trump, Sessions, and Homan continued to repeat lies regarding that recent raid targeting Northern California. When James Schwab asked the agency to correct the information, he was rebuffed. “I asked them to change the information,” he said. “I told them that the information was wrong, they asked me to deflect, and I didn’t agree with that. Then I took some time and I quit.”
There’s a lot that Homan and friends can get away with on Fox News and in their press conferences, but it’ll be a lot harder when the law is involved. The judge has also ordered Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Todd Huffman to testify. “Newman said he will order Homan and Hoffman to bring along written documents backing up their claims,” ABC News added. “He quipped that if they don’t have written proof, they can say where they got their information, like ‘I heard it on Fox News.’”