Border Czar: You can expect more ICE agents to go to New York
Tom Homan, the Boarder Czar for the Trump Administration, says more federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will be sent to New York City.
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Tom Homan, the Border Czar for the Trump Administration, says more federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will be sent to New York City.
In a recent interview on 'Fox & Friends' Homan said he made a promise to Governor Kathy Hochul that "you are going to see more ICE agents than you've ever seen in New York City" after the Governor signed a new set of laws that would limit federal immigration enforcement in local jails.
The 'Local Cops, Local Crimes Act' bans local governments, state and local police from assisting ICE and prohibits the use of local for their civil immigration enforcement efforts.
"Governor Hochul signed legislation that ended our 287G agreements where one agent can arrest one bad guy turned over by a jail. Now we got to send a whole team to look for that guy, so she took the efficiency, the jails away in the 287G agreement. So it's, it's math. One agent can arrest one bad guy in the safety and security of the jail, which is safer for the aliens, safer for the agent, and safer for the community, but she decided to kill all that, so now we got to send more agents to do the job that would have took one person," Homan told reporters in an interview outside of the White House.
Homan says when he met with the Governor earlier this year, he explained the importance of federal agents being able to work with local sheriffs to limit 'panic' and 'problems' when federal agents are sent into neighborhoods to find and arrest 'the bad guys'.
"I told her it's safer for the community, it's safer for the officers," Homan said.
Governor Hochul responded to the statements during a press gaggle on Monday, saying Homan is going in a different direction than the President said he wanted to have happen.
"President Trump told me to my face, in a room full of governors, that when he was asked about the lessons of Minneapolis: “Mr. President, what are the lessons of Minneapolis?” And he says, “We’re not going where we’re not welcome.” And he looked over at me, the Governor of the State of New York, at this meeting. And he says, “For example, I will not go to New York unless Kathy asks," the governor said, "and I said, “I’m not asking, so we’re good.” I’m not asking now — that’ll never happen. Because they saw what happened in Minneapolis. They saw the chaos and, literally, the murder of two innocent civilians who were just simply exercising their right to protest. So, they know what could happen. They know the possibilities."
The governor continued to emphasize her message that New York is not a sanctuary state for criminals.
"The law that I passed simply says that I want our jails and our local police used to stop local crimes. I have a right to protect every single New Yorker," the Governor Hochul said.
Mayor Mamdani was asked about Homans' plan to deploy ICE on June 8 during a press conference about the World Cup.
"We have heard time and again threats of increases in immigration enforcement across our city. I want to be very clear about the fact that I believe that ICE raids are cruel, they are inhumane, they do nothing to serve in the interests of public safety. I've shared that directly with the president. I've shared that with the public," the mayor said.
The timing of Homan's statements comes just days before the FIFA World Cup is set to begin in New Jersey, with the tri-state anticipating hosting thousands of international visitors, journalist and players.
"The World Cup is supposed to be a celebration of the world as a whole, and some of the decisions that we've seen been taken by the federal administration, be it the denial of visas for journalists from certain countries or the rejection of a visa for a coach of a team, as well as single day visas for specific foreign national teams. This is anathema to what this tournament is supposed to be about," the mayor said.
News 12 reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and ICE for comment.
