California became the country’s first sanctuary state yesterday. And since that is a direct rebuke to Donald Trump and his anti-immigration stances, naturally Fox hosted acting ICE Director Thomas Homan to threaten the state and falsely fear monger that residents are now in greater danger.
As the Los Angeles Times reported, “Research has shown sanctuary cities have lower crime rates and that immigrants generally commit fewer crimes than U.S. citizens.” Furthermore, the Times notes, although the bill prevents state and local law enforcers from questioning and holding people on immigration violations, it does “permit police and sheriffs share information and transfer people to immigration authorities if they have been convicted of one or more crimes from a list of 800.” It also allows “federal immigration authorities to keep working with state corrections officials and to continue entering county jails to question immigrants.”
None of that information was given to the viewers watching Homan on Fox News today. Instead, he was allowed to suggest that dangerous criminals will soon swarm the streets. And despite the fact that some law enforcers, such as Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck, support the bill, Homan claimed it “intentionally” endangers law enforcement.
HOMAN: You’ve got a state of California that wants to put politics ahead of public safety, ahead of officer safety. What they’ve done is force my officers to arrest dangerous criminals on their turf, in their homes and in their places of business rather than arresting them in the safety and security of a county jail. It’s ridiculous. … [They] annoyingly and intentionally put law enforcement at risk and the American communities.
Homan also hinted that he and his department plan to retaliate with a crackdown on immigrants:
HOMAN: 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. They’re about to see a lot more special agents, a lot more deportation officers in the state of California. If the politicians in California don’t want to protect their communities, then ICE will. … We’re gonna be all over the place.
Homan also threatened legal retaliation against sanctuary cities and their officials. Presumably that applies to the State of California, too.
HOMAN: I think we charge some of these sanctuary cities with violating federal law. I think if they knowingly harbor and shield a known illegal alien, a public safety threat, and a jail won’t give us access … [t]he Department of Justice needs to do a couple things. Number one, they need to file charges against the sanctuary cities. Number two, they need to hold back their funding. Another thing they need to do, they need to hold these politicians personally accountable.
I mean, more citizens are gonna die because of these policies and these politicians can’t make these decisions and be held unaccountable for people dying.
[…]
This is a victimization of the American community. This isn’t the America I grew up in. We gotta take these sanctuary cities on, we gotta take them to court and we gotta start charging some of these politicians with crimes.
Host Neil Cavuto didn’t seem to have a problem with anything Homan said. Cavuto responded merely by thanking Homan for taking the time to appear on the show. Then the discussion closed.
Watch Homan’s threats above, from the January 2, 2018 Your World.
Crossposted at News Hounds.
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