Back before President Trump was even in office, his current Border Czar, former ICE head Tom Homan, was already gearing up to take the fight to sanctuary jurisdictions by waging legal war on their leading government officials, comments that now look like they could soon be reality as the DOJ sues sanctuary city mayors and Trump plans on sending in the National Guard to defend ICE in others.
For reference, a key aspect of the current Trump Administration’s attempts to Make America Great Again has been its attempts to force all cities and states to comply with its requests of aid on the immigration enforcement front, particularly in terms of local law enforcement helping ICE do its job and detain and deport illegal aliens. That has escalated from simple requests for help to legal and law enforcement actions meant to force compliance.
While that has recently garnered many headlines because of the high-profile nature of the enforcement efforts, Border Czar Tom Homan indicated even stronger measures might be coming when he spoke to NewsNation back in late December of 2024 and explained that sanctuary city officials are committing crimes and could be arrested.
In that interview, then-incoming Border Czar Tom Homan noted that sanctuary cities indicated they weren’t going to back down, and so the onus was on the Trump Administration to make them do so. He began, “Sanctuary jurisdictions aren’t going to stop what we’re going to do.” He continued, “If they don’t want to protect their communities, then the Trump administration will.”
Continuing, Mr. Homan noted that while the sanctuary jurisdiction officials can sit by and not directly help, if they decide to try to intervene or impede ICE, or do something like try to hide illegal aliens, then they are committing crimes and can be arrested. He said, “They can stand by and watch us do it, but they cannot impede us. They cannot knowingly harbor and conceal an illegal from ICE. Those are crimes.”
Adding to that, Homan slammed the sanctuary jurisdiction claim that locals want the illegals protected as “a stone-cold lie.” He argued that those who witness illegals commit crimes don’t agree with the catch and release policies of sanctuary city law enforcement, noting, “The victims and witnesses of crime certainly don’t want the bad guy released back into their neighborhood.”
Mr. Homan also explained, on that same note, that the days of federal-level catch and release policies are over. As he put it, ICE agents and other immigration authorities under the Trump Administration will no longer “turn a blind eye and walk away” to those who are in the country illegally, ad happened under Biden.
Instead, Mr. Homan informed the media and the American people, those who are here illegally will be arrested and will be deported. As he put it at the time, “More agents have to come into communities and more people are going to be arrested.” He then added, emphasizing his seriousness, “That’s not a threat. That’s just the reality.”
Watch Mr. Homan threaten sanctuary cities more recently here:
