Trump threatens to pull federal agents from state
President Trump unleashed a tirade Thursday against California and its supposedly lax stance on illegal immigration, ending with a seemingly spontaneous threat to remove federal immigration authorities from the state.
His remarks, made during a meeting about gun control, were in stark contrast to the public position of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, who have dramatically increased activity in California in recent months and said repeatedly that federal authorities need to have a stronger presence in cities and states that have
sanctuary policies.
Trump said in the meeting, “If I wanted to pull our people from California you would have a crime nest like you’ve never seen in California . ... You’d be inundated, you would see crime like no one’s ever seen crime in this country.”
“If we ever pulled our ICE out and said, ‘Hey, let California alone, let them figure it out for themselves,’ in two months they’d be begging for us to come back. They would be begging,” Trump said. “And you know what? I’m thinking about doing it.”
Democrats in the state quickly took to Twitter and other social media to defend the state and its immigration sanctuary policies, many pointing out that California has relatively low crime rates and that there is little evidence associating illegal immigration with increased violent crime.
“The president’s obsession with our state is growing more outrageous by the day,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., in a statement released less than an hour after Trump’s remarks aired on TV. “The president’s attacks are not only mean-spirited, they’re patently false.”
Immigration experts expressed some skepticism that Trump would follow through on the threat. “I’m not sure what to make of his comment. It doesn’t seem to be the product of any sustained study of the matter. It seemed like an off-thecuff remark,” said Pratheepan Gulasekaram, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law.
Trump’s comment is especially muddied given statements made by ICE officials, in particular the agency’s acting director Thomas Homan, about increasing enforcement, he said.
“Just a few months ago Homan had the exact opposite reaction. They’re going to redouble their efforts; we’re going to see massive increases in raids,” Gulasekaram said. “So it’s not clear how to read these two statements together.”
ICE officials in the state directed questions about Trump’s comments back to the White House.
The agency has ramped up its presence in California this year. In January, federal immigration agents raided 77 Northern California businesses in one week, demanding proof that employees were allowed to work in the United States. Agents have conducted widespread sweeps in Southern California, too, picking up more than 100 people this month so far.
Across the state, local law enforcement agencies have refused to cooperate with ICE agents in these raids, citing city and state sanctuary policies that limit their role in immigration enforcement. California became a sanctuary state in October under a law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown that pushed back against Trump administration attempts to bolster illegal immigration policies.
Trump’s remarks on Thursday were the latest in a string of attacks on California over sanctuary laws that he insists are dangerous.
Supporters say the laws allow undocumented immigrants to live out of the shadows, cooperating with local police and seeking education, health care and other public services without worrying they will expose themselves to possible deportation.
Trump, though, has repeatedly claimed that the laws allow violent criminals to operate without fear of consequences. Early last year, the president told then-Fox News host Bill O’Reilly that “California in many ways is out of control, as you know.” He threatened to strip sanctuary cities of federal funding.
In November, Trump reacted angrily to a San Francisco jury’s decision to acquit a 45-year-old undocumented immigrant of murder and manslaughter charges in the 2015 killing of Kate Steinle on a bay pier. The defendant, Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, had been released from County Jail before the killing, despite a federal request that he be held for his sixth deportation, under the city’s sanctuary laws.
“A disgraceful verdict in the Kate Steinle case!” tweeted Trump, who has cited the case in his effort to build a border wall. “No wonder the people of our Country are so angry with Illegal Immigration.”
In his latest comments, Trump said California has done “a lousy management job” in immigration. “They have the highest taxes in the nation. And they don’t know what’s happening out there,” Trump said. “Frankly it’s a disgrace. The sanctuary city situation. The protection of these horrible criminals.”
Some of the state’s elected officials pushed back against Trump’s assumption that sanctuary laws protect violent criminals or make communities less safe. In response to Trump’s remarks, Brown opted to take a jab at the president’s disinclination to strengthen gun control policies — an issue also closely associated with community safety.
“In California we protect all of our people from criminals and gangs, as well as dangerous assault weapons,” Brown said in a statement. “We do our job, Mr. President, you do yours.”
As to Trump’s threat to remove federal authorities, reaction from some wasn’t exactly to plead for mercy.
Jennie Pasquarella, immigrants’ rights director of ACLU of California, said in a statement that communities that limit cooperation with immigration agents are safer than those that do not.
“Mr. President, we’d welcome an ICE-free California,” she said.