President Trump suggested he’s thinking about pulling federal immigration officers and Border Patrol out of California for the state’s “lousy management job” in assisting federal agents in enforcing immigration policy.
As a “sanctuary state,” California has openly refused to comply with federal immigration policy and report illegal immigrants residing in their state, thus putting themselves at odds with the Trump administration and their crackdown on immigration.
“I mean frankly, if I wanted to pull our people from California, you would have a crime mess like you’ve never seen in California,” the president said during a White House meeting on school safety, touting the idea of pulling Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol officials out of the state.
However, he said California would be “begging for us to come back” in two months if they ever followed through with leaving the state without federal immigration agents because “you would see crime like no one’s ever seen crime in this country.”
Trump concluded: “And you know what, I’m thinking about doing it.”
Thomas Homan, acting ICE director, warned the state in January to “hold on tight” for more “targeted enforcement operations,” which the acting state attorney general has already contested, upholding their sanctuary status.
