President-elect Donald Trump’s “border czar” claimed Monday that he will throw the mayor of Denver, Colorado in prison if his city resists Trump’s efforts to deport millions of immigrants from the United States.
“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,” Tom Homan said in an appearance on Fox News' Hannity.
Homan was responding to an interview last week in which Mayor Mike Johnston told Denverite he would summon local police to block federal forces mobilized by Trump to round up immigrants.
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He also suggested the community would rise up against them.
“More than us having [the Denver Police Department] stationed at the county line to keep them out, you would have 50,000 Denverites there,” Johnston said.
“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.”
Johnston added that he would explore the creation of city work authorizations if Trump follows through on a pledge to block immigrants from working.
His remarks immediately became fodder for conservative cable news and MAGA sycophants like Elon Musk, who tweeted, “The mayor of Denver hates his constituents.”
During an appearance on CBS’ Face the Nation, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) accused the mayor of advocating for a “form of insurrection.”
Johnston later softened his stance on city police blocking federal agents, but reiterated his support for mass protests against any deportation efforts.
Homan, meanwhile, pledged to have federal officers carry out deportations, no matter what Johnston thinks.
“I don’t know what the hell’s going on in Denver, but we are going to go fix it,“ he said. ”If he don’t want to fix it, if he don’t want to protect his communities, President Trump and ICE will.”
Homan is a rough and tumble former Border Patrol agent who led the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on an acting basis under Trump from January 2017 to June 2018.
He was not confirmed by the United States Senate, while his new role doesn’t require confirmation.
During Trump’s second term in office, he will be in charge of the U.S. land and sea borders, including the enforcement of the President-elect’s pledge to mass deport millions of people with the use of federal or even military personnel.
