Calling out \u201csmoke and mirror politicians,\u201d the head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Wednesday that sanctuary policies endanger the public and law-enforcement officers.<\/p>\n
Speaking at a Border Security Expo<\/a> in San Antonio, acting ICE Director Thomas Homan said sanctuary jurisdictions don\u2019t even protect illegal aliens.<\/p>\n \u201cMost of the people we arrest are already in jail. When our agents are prohibited from entering jails, we must go into the community and arrest more people,\u201d Homan said.<\/p>\n The outspoken ICE chief said sanctuary locales that refuse to cooperate with immigration agents are effectively \u201cbankrolling criminal organizations\u201d that traffic in guns, drugs and human beings.<\/p>\n \u201cThey [politicians]are enticing the very people who kill our agents,\u201d said Homan, nominated by President Donald Trump to be ICE\u2019s full-time director.<\/p>\n Homan has previously said sanctuary city officials should be charged with crimes<\/a>.<\/p>\n Admitting that he gets \u201cemotional\u201d about the subject, Homan noted that he began his career as a Border Patrol agent, and he blasted pro-sanctuary politicians who \u201cnever wore a badge or carried a gun.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey make your job harder and put you in harm\u2019s way,\u201d he told an audience of federal immigration officers at the annual border security conference.<\/p>\n Homan repeated his pledge to step up ICE enforcement at work site \u201cjob magnets,\u201d particularly in California, which has declared itself a sanctuary state<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause we\u2019re barred from entering jails there, we have to send five or six officers into the community to do what one officer could do,\u201d he said. \u201cRidiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n Homan praised Trump\u2019s immigration agenda, while suggesting that the president\u2019s spate of executive orders could be boiled down to one sentence: \u201cYou will now enforce the laws enacted by Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll enforce the law without apology,\u201d Homan concluded to a storm of applause.<\/p>\n Earlier, an official from Homeland Security Investigations told the conference that fewer people are notifying immigration authorities of suspected human-trafficking activity.<\/p>\n Jack Staton, a special agent in charge at HSI, said the general public can help stop the deadly cycle<\/a> by calling Homeland Security\u2019s 24-hour tip line<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one wants to see people in harm\u2019s way,\u201d Staton said. Except, perhaps, for those smoke-and-mirrors politicians in their faux sanctuaries.