Trump border czar slams Healey, Wu over ‘bold-faced’ lies about ICE surge in Mass.
Trump administration Border Czar Tom Homan went on offense Tuesday, accusing Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey of falsely claiming that immigration agents were targeting worshippers at a Sunday service.
"Shame on Gov. Healey and Mayor Wu," Homan said outside the White House on Tuesday, according to The Boston Herald . "Shame on both of them. They should be calling the White House, thanking Trump, thanking ICE for making the community safer. Instead, they go on TV and lie about ICE and make these accusations."
During an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program earlier in the day, the Democratic governor said ICE agents were targeting worshippers during a Spanish-language mass at Saint Ignatius of Loyola Parish in Chestnut Hill.
"Why the hell are they there?" Healey said. "They're there to intimidate, right? They're there to sow fear," she said. "They're there to scare people. In the same way the Trump administration is about scaring corporations and universities and law firms."
Spokespeople for the Archdiocese of Boston and Boston College, where the church is located, told The Herald that an ICE van was spotted on Saturday.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Homan asserted that the federal agents are clear to target people in the country illegally at churches, schools and courthouses, according to The Herald.
Homan said ICE, which launched a promised surge of immigration raids in Boston over the weekend, is not conducting operations at Boston-area churches, the newspaper reported.
He dismissed Healey's claims as "bold-faced lie," The Herald reported.
The effort, dubbed "Operation Patriot 2.0," is a continuation of May's "Operation Patriot." In June, ICE announced it had arrested almost 1,500 people across Massachusetts who were in the country illegally during the monthlong effort.
An unnamed senior spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security issued a statement to MassLive on Sunday afternoon.
"Sanctuary policies like those pushed by [Boston] Mayor [Michelle] Wu not only attract and harbor criminals but also place these public safety threats above the interests of law-abiding American citizens. ICE is arresting sex offenders, pedophiles, murderers, drug dealers and gang members released by local authorities," the statement read.
Wu released a statement to MassLive Sunday afternoon, responding to the recent surge: "As ordered in the Boston Trust Act, no Boston police or local resources will be co-opted into federal immigration enforcement and their mass deportation agenda," the Democratic mayor said.
"For months, ICE has refused to provide any information about their activities in Boston and refuses to issue warrants, while we hear reports of ICE agents taking parents as they are dropping their kids off at school," Wu continued. "That does not make our community safer. We expect that federal law enforcement will abide by the constitution and laws of this city, commonwealth and country, and we are prepared to take legal action at any evidence to the contrary."
Homan defended the administration's immigration hardline, saying ICE agents are "targeting the worst of the worst and making this country safe again."
More on Politics
Read the original article on MassLive . Add MassLive as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
