<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;" align="center">The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director is planning to take strict action against the sanctuary city leaders for not only being uncooperative, but for being a &ldquo;criminal&rsquo;s best friend.&rdquo;  ;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thomas Homan, the acting ICE director, said he is planning to charge sanctuary city&rsquo;s leaders for violating anti-smuggling laws. This is in response to how the police departments in these cities have been releasing illegal immigrants from jail, instead of notifying the ICE like they should be.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The ICE has aggressive deportation goals.  ;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">&ldquo;I think 409,000 is a stretch this year, but if [the Justice Department] keeps going in the direction they&rsquo;re going in, if we continue to expand our operational footprint, I think we&rsquo;re going to get there,&rdquo; said Homan to <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Washington Times.</em> &ldquo;Our interior arrests will go up. They&rsquo;re going to top last year&rsquo;s for sure.&rdquo;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sanctuary cities officials aren&rsquo;t the only ones resisting ICE officers, the use-of-force by migrants has gone up by 150%.  ;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Not to mention, it is much more dangerous and time consuming for ICE agents to try to track down an illegal immigrant that has been released from jail.  ;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">&ldquo;When we knock on doors, as any law enforcement officer will tell you, it&rsquo;s risky, it&rsquo;s dangerous. Compare that to arresting someone in the jail, when you know they don&rsquo;t have weapons in the jail,&rdquo; said Homan. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a matter of time before one of my officers is seriously hurt or doesn&rsquo;t go home because someone made a political decision on the backs of my officers.&rdquo; ; ;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So the sanctuary city police departments are putting federal agents in danger to protect unlawful citizens. ;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">&ldquo;I think these sanctuary cities need to make sure they&rsquo;re on the right side of the law. They need to look at this. Because I am,&rdquo; said Homan.  ;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He also said the ICE will be specifically focusing on these areas and it&rsquo;s not a safe haven for illegal immigrants.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll say it once again &mdash; sanctuary cities are a criminal&rsquo;s best friend. If you are an alien smuggler and you are smuggling people illegally into this country, that&rsquo;s one sales pitch. We can get you to a sanctuary city where that city will help shield you from immigration,&rdquo; said Homan. &ldquo;If you are in a sanctuary city, that&rsquo;s where we are going to send additional resources to look for you at your home, your place of employment. We are going to enforce the law.&rdquo;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Homan has been heavily criticized for his strict stance on immigration. Joan Walsh, a MSNBC political analyst, likened the ICE to a criminal gang and Homan as its leader.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">&ldquo;Wow, the head of a violent gang is taking the podium at the White House. The head of ICE. Ask good questions please, WH press corps,&rdquo; tweeted Walsh. &ldquo;They are the deadliest gang.&rdquo;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But Homan has made it clear that he won&rsquo;t be backing down and pointed to some examples of why immigration laws should be taken seriously.  ;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">&ldquo;People who don&rsquo;t think we should enforce immigration law &mdash; I wish they&rsquo;d hang out with me for a week,&rdquo; ;said Homan. &ldquo;I wish they were with me in Phoenix, Arizona &mdash; people held hostage. A guy with duct tape all over his body, with a hole poked out in his mouth where he breathed through a straw for days, until they paid his fee. They weren&rsquo;t with me on the trail in the Border Patrol where we found dead aliens abandoned by smugglers. They weren&rsquo;t with me standing in the back of that traffic trailer with a 5-year-old boy who suffocated in his father&rsquo;s arms.&rdquo;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong>Author&rsquo;s note: </strong>Homan continues to apply more pressure on sanctuary cities. The legal consequences for breaking federal laws are serious and the ICE isn&rsquo;t going to let the sanctuary cities get away with it anymore.</p>
<p> ;</p>