President Trump Donald John TrumpHR McMaster says president's policy to withdraw troops from Afghanistan is 'unwise' Cast of 'Parks and Rec' reunite for virtual town hall to address Wisconsin voters Biden says Trump should step down over coronavirus response MORE's pick to run Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday called for a crackdown on so-called sanctuary cities, saying politicians who help run them should be charged with crimes.

In an interview with Fox News's Neil Cavuto, ICE acting Director Thomas Homan said the Department of Justice needs "to file charges against the sanctuary cities" and "hold back their funding."

Homan, who was announced in December as President Trump's pick to permanently run the agency, went on to say that politicians enforcing sanctuary city policies need to be held "personally accountable."

"We gotta take [sanctuary cities] to court, and we gotta start charging some of these politicians with crimes," he said.

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His comments came during a discussion about California Gov. Jerry Brown (D), a staunch defender of protections for undocumented immigrants who in October signed a bill declaring California a sanctuary state.

Sanctuary cities, which limit their cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, have increasingly come under fire since Trump took office in January.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions Jefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsTrump's policies on refugees are as simple as ABCs Ocasio-Cortez, Velázquez call for convention to decide Puerto Rico status White House officials voted by show of hands on 2018 family separations: report MORE has repeatedly called for tougher measures for sanctuary cities, including the withholding of federal grants for them.

Trump made the issue central to his campaign in 2016, arguing that sanctuary city policies prevent law enforcement from keeping Americans safe.