White House border czar Tom Homan is promising to “flood” cities run by Democrats with immigration agents, as the Trump administration ramps up border enforcement.
Congress earlier this month gave the Trump administration more than $170 billion over the next four years to dramatically scale up enforcement, detention and deportation, and Homan said Americans living in so-called “sanctuary cities” can expect to see far more agents on the street soon.
The White House has repeatedly singled out cities from Los Angeles to Denver to Boston for their refusal to assist ICE agents making detentions, and Homan has threatened to arrest elected officials who stymie the president.
Migrant-rights groups warn increased enforcement raises the risk of more civil rights violations and violent confrontations, like the chaotic protests that broke out in Los Angeles last month following Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids at a Home Depot, among other locations.
Trump officials have long complained that many cities run by Democrats refuse to honor requests to detain people on behalf of ICE in local jails, and Homan said doing so makes it harder for ICE to arrest “bad guys” in the safety of a detention center. He said making street arrests is more dangerous for everyone, requiring more personnel to operate safely.
The increased funding for one of Trump’s signature policies comes as the American public appears to be growing increasingly concerned about the tactics being deployed. A July 20 poll by CBS/YouGov found that 56% of Americans disapproved of the president’s immigration measures, while 44% approved, a 10-point drop from February.
Even this isn’t enough. I live in a solid blue town if a deep blue state. My elected officials have been great at speaking up and do what they can.
But what can they do.? It’s not nothing, but …
Where was I going? Oh yeah, my elected city councillor was roughed up and threatened with jail time for videoing a kidnapping. What do you do? We’re far beyond the need for just electing good people
Those good people theoretically have control of their own local security forces and support from their local community. They need to be willing to start using them to contain unlawful actions by the feds. Require license plates on all vehicles, ban masks during arrests, create local regulations about inspections of all buildings housing detainees. Federal agents can be arrested, and even if they’re released later, that’s still disrupting the free for all they have now.
And even a little support from local authorities can multiply the abilities of individual citizens to resist. If police will protect protesters rather than run crowd control against them, or the city drops some concrete road barriers at a detention facility out of code, then the feds don’t have the equipment and manpower to deal with a crowd.
They’re all stuck playing by the old systems while the administration doesn’t give a fuck.