In a heated exchange on the White House lawn, Border Czar Tom Homan delivered a blistering ultimatum to sanctuary cities, specifically targeting Minneapolis following viral footage of a forceful arrest by federal agents.
Homan, brushing off comparisons of the tactics to “Putin’s Russia” as “ridiculous,” argued that local policies restricting cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are directly responsible for the visible and chaotic enforcement actions taking place in neighborhoods.
“If they’d let us in their damn jail and stop being a sanctuary city, we could arrest the bad guy in the safety and security of the jail,” Homan told reporters on Wednesday. “But because they release them, now we got to go into the community and find them. Then they’re mad we’re in the community.”
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The comments came in response to questions about a widely circulated video from Minneapolis showing a woman being forcibly removed from her vehicle by federal agents. Homan framed such incidents as the inevitable byproduct of local resistance, warning that barring agents from jails forces them to conduct “at-large” operations which are inherently more dangerous for officers, suspects, and the public.
He also issued a stark warning regarding “collateral arrests”—the detention of undocumented immigrants encountered incidentally during a targeted operation.
“When you force us into the community to find the public safety threat… if we find [others] and they’re in the country illegally, they’re getting arrested too,” Homan said. “So more officers in the street means more collateral arrests.”
Addressing the growing wave of anti-ICE demonstrations, Homan remained defiant, signaling that public outcry would not alter the administration’s strategy.
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“Protest all they want, we’re just going to double down and enforce the law,” he said. “I said for months we’re going to surge resources in sanctuary cities because that’s where the problem is.”
The Border Czar also touched on the administration’s threat to withhold federal funding from jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, stating he supports “pulling federal funds away from cities that release public safety threats in their communities.”
Homan concluded by claiming the current administration has achieved “the most secure border in the history of this nation,” crediting the aggressive enforcement posture for deterring illegal crossings.
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