Homan calls for end of 'hateful rhetoric' toward ICE agents in aftermath of Renee Good shooting
Homan pointed to a list of illegal immigrants with criminal records that ICE has recently arrested as an example of the kind of work ICE has been doing.
White House Border Czar Tom Homan called for the "hateful rhetoric" toward Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to end in the aftermath of the murder of Renee Good in Minnesota.
He pointed to a list of illegal immigrants with criminal records that ICE has recently arrested as an example of the kind of work ICE has been doing.
"Look, it's tragic. And I've said, from March, if the hateful rhetoric doesn't decline, there's going to be bloodshed. I've seen this movie before. And unfortunately, I was right. And there's been a lot of bloodshed. But look, you know, you've got to put yourself in the mind of the officer, right? You're in a city where there's protest, interference, impediment, like these two ladies were doing before this instance occurred," Homan said on "Meet the Press" on Sunday.
"You're in a city where law enforcement response is sporadic, at best. You got threats up over 1,300%, actual assault on ICE officers. You got a woman behind the wheel of a 4,000-pound vehicle, revving her engine, going towards you. I truly believe this officer, in his mind, though his life was in danger, which allows him to use lethal force. Now, I'll say this. Let the investigation play out, right? There's a lot of video. We probably haven't seen it. The FBI has it. We don't," he added.
He said the investigation into the shooting of Good needs to play out.
"Where's the forensics and the ballistics? That hasn't been outreached. How about the officer's statements, his own statements? So we need to let this play out. But while we're doing that, we've got to stop the hateful rhetoric. Saying this officer is a murderer is dangerous. It's just ridiculous," he said. "And it's just going to infuriate people more, which means there's going to be more incidents like this because the hateful rhetoric is not only continuing, now has tripled down and doubled down."
Homan said ICE agents are in Minneapolis because it is a sanctuary city that protects illegal immigrants with criminal records from deportation.
"The bottom line is, Why are you even there? Why are we in Minneapolis? Because it's a sanctuary city, a sanctuary state," he said.