On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends,” former DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson stated that he guarantees that if 2024 Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump wins the 2024 election and implements a mass deportation policy, it will “turbocharge the sanctuary city movement in blue state, blue city communities, just like it did during Trump” and before the Trump administration, which will make it harder to go after people who are real dangers to national security and public safety.
Johnson stated, [relevant remarks begin around 6:45] “When we talk about mass deportation, that’s, frankly — that’s a bumper sticker. You have to have priorities. The criminal gang members from Venezuela, I want to see ICE ERO out there focusing, looking for those guys versus focusing on somebody who has been in this country twelve years, who runs a bakery somewhere, who hasn’t committed any crimes, who has got U.S. kids born in this country.”
Co-host Lawrence Jones then cut in to say, “Mr. Secretary, they can’t, because there are sanctuary [cities] that have non-detainer status. And so, when those ICE officials try to go there, you have Democrat cities that run those departments and say, no, we’re not going to cooperate with you.”
Johnson responded, “And if you embark on a policy of mass deportation in this country, that will, I guarantee, turbocharge the sanctuary city movement in blue state, blue city communities, just like it did during Trump, during — and even before Trump. And so, the key in going after public safety threats, national security threats, is working effectively with local law enforcement, so when they’re released from local jails, they go straight into ICE custody.”
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