Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons joined “Fox & Friends” on Monday to discuss the ongoing manhunt for a gunman who fired shots at Border Patrol agents in Chicago, an incident he highlighted as part of a disturbing nationwide rise in attacks against agents.
The incident in Chicago unfolded on a Saturday when Border Patrol agents “took fire from an unknown male in a jeep.”
Following the shooting, the situation escalated as protesters began throwing rocks, bricks, and cans of paint at Border Patrol vehicles.
“If you put your hands on an ICE agent or a border patrol agent or if you threaten them, shoot at them, throw rocks, we’re going to find you, we’re going to prosecute you,” Lyons blasted.
The shooting comes amid what Lyons described as a significant increase in hostility towards law enforcement officers. He noted an 8,000% increase in both death threats and assaults against ICE officers.
Lyons strongly pushed back against inflammatory language used by some local officials, specifically addressing a Chicago alderman’s comment referring to agents as “the Gestapo.”
“It’s really sad because all the men and women of Customs and Border Protection, Border Patrol and ICE, they’re all doing their sworn law enforcement mission,” Lyons said. He countered the criticism by citing a recent arrest of a man from Mexico who had been released after serving time for three counts of sexual assault of a child, and who authorities had to “hunt and find” after a local jurisdiction refused to turn him over.
The Director also criticized sanctuary jurisdictions, arguing that their policies put the public at risk by shielding criminal illegal aliens. He referenced a case of an offender who had dodged deportation for years before being arrested for a DUI hit-and-run that resulted in a death.
“That’s the scary part… about these sanctuary jurisdictions,” Lyons explained. “Criminal illegal aliens will go to locations where they know that local police or state police won’t turn them over to us.”
Lyons stressed that refusing to work with ICE has tragic consequences, pointing out that the victim of the DUI crash “might still be with us today” had action been taken earlier. He urged elected officials to “sit down and talk to Angel families” who have lost loved ones due to crimes committed by people who were not supposed to be in the country.
Despite the challenges, Lyons confirmed that ICE is committed to an aggressive recruitment goal to hire 10,000 new agents without sacrificing training or hiring standards, emphasizing they are attracting applicants from other agencies who “want to feel like they’re working for an agency that respects them and allows them to do their job.”
RELATED: Shots Fired At Border Patrol Agents In Chicago During Immigration Operation; Suspect At Large
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