Acting director of the immigration and customs enforcement agency Thomas Homan suggested politicians in sanctuary cities and states should be charged with crimes, in a Tuesday interview.

Homan’s remarks follow California officially becoming a sanctuary state for illegal immigrants in 2018 and officially bars police from asking about immigration status. The law also does not allow police officers to assist federal authorities assist in deportation or other immigration enforcement operations.

“The state of California better hang on tight because the smuggling organizations are using the sanctuary cities law – the sanctuary state law as a selling ploy. More illegal aliens will be coming to California. More criminal aliens will be coming to California. So Californians just bit off a lot more than they can chew,” the ICE acting director said.

Homan repeatedly emphasized that politicians in sanctuary cities and states like California should be held “accountable” but noted that ICE would fill the gap. “I’m going to significantly increase our enforcement presence in California. We’re already doing it. “We’re going to detail additional enforcement assets to California. California better hold on tight. They’re about to see a lot more special agents, a lot more deportation officers in the state of California. If the politicians in California don’t want to protect their communities then ICE will.”

The acting director also noted that Trump shared his views before declaring, “This is a victimization of the American community. This isn’t the America I grew up in. We’ve got to take these sanctuary cities on. We’ve got to take them to court and start charging some of these politicians with crimes.”

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