Former acting ICE Director and incoming Border Czar Tom Homan took aim at Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, who has openly declared his willingness to defy federal law to protect illegal immigrants, including those with criminal records, from deportation under President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.
Mayor Johnston’s controversial sanctuary city agenda has drawn sharp criticism for its extreme approach.
In an interview with Denverite, Johnston outlined his vision of Denver as a “fortress of resistance,” complete with human barricades of residents and police officers standing in the way of federal deportation efforts.
Johnston even likened his planned resistance to “a Tiananmen Square moment.”
“More than us having [Denver Police] stationed at the county line to keep them out, you would have 50,000 Denverites there,” Johnston boasted, adding, “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.”
He later admitted the analogy of Tiananmen Square was inappropriate but has not backed down from his broader defiance.
When asked about the possibility of jail time for his actions, Johnston shrugged it off, stating, “I’m not afraid of that.”
Marc Sallinger: Trump’s new border czar, Tom Homan, has said that he is willing to arrest leaders like yourself for standing in the way of these policies they want to enact. Would you be willing to go to jail for these things?
Mike Johnston: Yeah, I’m not afraid of that. I’m also not seeking that. I think the goal is we want to be able to negotiate with reasonable people on how to solve hard problems. Republican and Democratic presidents in the past have all tried to find solutions to these problems. President Reagan helped people get access to work so they could stay and support themselves. Biden and Harris worked on restricting entry at the border to close it down. There are a lot of ways to approach this problem. We don’t think it has to come to this.
Homan wasted no time pointing out the legal consequences of Johnston’s actions, referencing Title 8, United States Code 1324, which makes it a felony to knowingly harbor or conceal illegal immigrants or impede federal law enforcement.
Sean Hannity: Tom, you heard this mayor out there in Colorado. I want to get your reaction to it, and I want you to be clear about who has jurisdiction—the federal government or state and local governments. And if you’re a sanctuary state or city, are you breaking the law?
Tom Homan: You’re absolutely breaking the law. All he has to do is look at Arizona v. United States, and you’ll see he’s breaking the law. Well, look, the Denver mayor and I agree on one thing—he’s willing to go to jail, and I’m willing to put him in jail.
There’s a statute, Title 8, United States Code 1324, and what it says is it’s a felony if you knowingly harbor and conceal an illegal alien from immigration authorities. It’s also a felony to impede a federal law enforcement officer. So, if they don’t want to help, that’s fine—they can get the hell out of the way. But we’re going to go do the job.
President Trump has a mandate from the American people. We need to secure this country and save American lives. I find it shocking that any mayor of a city would oppose this. President Trump has been clear—we want to focus on public safety threats and national security threats.
I find it hard to believe that any mayor or governor would say they don’t want public safety threats removed from their cities. I don’t know what the hell is going on in Denver, but we’re going to go, and we’re going to fix it.
If he doesn’t want to fix it—if he doesn’t want to protect his communities—President Trump and ICE will.
WATCH:
Tom Homan: “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.” pic.twitter.com/MkrFbxwS9I
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) November 26, 2024
Jim Hᴏft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016.
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