President-elect Donald Trump’s border czar didn’t mince words Monday night when asked about Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s fighting words about protecting illegal immigrants from deportation.
Johnston recently claimed in an interview that he was prepared to use military force against anything he considered to be “illegal or immoral or un-American” in the Mile High City, and that he was willing to go to jail for standing in the way of incoming President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
Tom Homan, Trump’s pick to be the next border czar, told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that he was willing to put him there.
“You are absolutely breaking the law. All he has to do is look at Arizona v. U.S. and he would see he’s breaking the law, Homan said flatly. “But, look, me and the Denver mayor, we agree on one thing. He’s willing to go to jail, I’m willing to put him in jail.”
Johnston had previously stated that he would station Denver Police at the county line to keep immigration officials out, and tens of thousands of Denver residents would back them up.
“More than us having DPD stationed at the county line to keep them out, you would have 50,000 Denverites there,” Johnston told Denverite. “It’s like the Tiananmen Square moment with the rose and the gun, right? You’d have every one of those Highland moms who came out for the migrants. And you do not want to mess with them.”
“Yeah, I’m not afraid of that, and I’m also not seeking that,” Johnston said. “I think the goal is we want to be able to negotiate with reasonable people [on] how to solve hard problems.”
Homan pointed out on “Hannity” that it’s a “felony if you knowingly harbor and conceal an illegal alien from immigration authorities,” and it’s also “a felony if you impede a federal law enforcement officer.”
He added that if the Denver mayor doesn’t want to help enforce the law, “he can get the hell out of the way, but we’re going to do the job.”
Earlier this month, Homan revealed that he and his family have been receiving death threats since he was appointed Trump’s border czar, telling Fox & Friends that his family is currently “not at home” due to the threats.
“That’s something we’re going to deal with. They’re not going to shut me up. They’re not going to make me go away. This is the biggest national security vulnerability this nation has seen since 9/11. We have to fix it,” he said. “They are not going to bully me away,” Homan added.
Johnston walked back his “Tiananmen Square” quip in an interview with 9NEWS on Friday.
“Would I have taken it back if I could? Yes, I probably wouldn’t have used that image,” Johnston said. “That’s the image I hope we can avoid. What I was trying to say is this is an outcome I hope we can avoid in this country. I think none of us want that.”
Nonetheless, the mayor said he would encourage residents to protest.
The potential protesters will be facing a border czar who recently declared that he “wakes up every morning pissed off at what this administration has done to our southern border.”
Homan told Hannity that Trump has a mandate to secure the country and save American lives and that he found it “shocking” that Johnston would oppose that.
“Let’s be clear, we want to concentrate on public safety threats and national security threats. I find it hard to believe that any mayor would or governor would say they don’t want public safety threats removed from their neighborhoods,” he said.
Johnston told 9News that he was not opposed to all deportations but worried that illegal immigrants who had not committed additional crimes in the United States would be targeted.
“I think our line is clear,” Johnston said. “We think if you are a violent criminal that is committing serious crimes like murder or rape in Denver, you should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and you should be deported. We support that, we have always supported that, we’ll continue supporting, that we’ve worked with previous administrations on that we will do it going forward.”
9NEWS asked Johnson what his plan was if federal forces or national guardsmen from other states showed up in Colorado. The mayor responded that he has no plan at the moment, but city leaders were “hoping to come up with one before the inauguration in January.”
Homan has made it clear that Trump’s deportation policies will, at least initially, focus solely on criminals.
“I mean. I don’t know what’s going on in Denver, but we’re going to go in and we’re going to fix it,” Homan declared. “If he doesn’t want to fix it. If he doesn’t want to protect his communities, President Trump and ICE will.”
The border czar told Hannity immigration officials will not hesitate to go into Democrat-controlled sanctuary cities and states to remove criminal illegals.
“We’re going to enforce the law, period,” he said. “And they’re not going to stop us.”
Bravo, sir!!! It’s well past time for a plain-spoke, totally resolute individual to get this mess under control and I can think of no better person for it than Tom Homan.
That we are facing such a crisis, and that crisis elucidates this response from an elected official (sworn to uphold our laws), demonstrates how serious the problem is and how deeply-rooted in our culture illegal aliens have become. Dear Mr. Homan, please start with the mayors and work your way up the political food chain until every single rat is in jail! We cannot stop until every single illegal alien is deported. Every. Single. One.
I pray for his and President Trump’s safety.