California ICE spokesman quits, accuses Trump administration of fake news

John Bacon | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Sessions Says California Cannot Block ICE Agents Attorney General Jeff Sessions told Fox News Channel's Fox News@Night with Shannon Bream the federal government must enforce immigration laws. Some California jurisdictions refuse to help federal agents detain people in the US illegally. (March 8)

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman in San Francisco has quit his post, saying he refuses to promote fake news from the Trump administration about a recent immigration sweep in Northern California.

James Schwab told the San Francisco Chronicle he resigned in frustration last week after Attorney General Jeff Sessions and ICE director Thomas Homa repeatedly claimed that more than 800 undocumented immigrants escaped arrest because Oakland Mayor Elizabeth Schaff warned of a possible crackdown hours before it began.

“I quit because I didn’t want to perpetuate misleading facts,” Schwab, who was hired during the Obama administration, told the Chronicle. “I told them that the information was wrong. They asked me to deflect, and I didn’t agree with that."

The Justice Department has been escalating its push against so-called sanctuary cities and states. The department claimed in a lawsuit filed last week that three California laws interfere with the federal government's immigration enforcement authority.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has blasted Schaff for a Feb. 25 Twitter post warning that she had tips from "multiple credible sources" that a sweep was about to begin. The four-day sweep still resulted in more than 200 arrests, but Homan said more than 800 "removable aliens" avoided arrest, blaming Schaff's warning.

"Efforts by local politicians have shielded removable criminal aliens from immigration enforcement and created another magnet for more illegal immigration, all at the expense of the safety and security of the very people it purports to protect," Homan said in a statement.

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Sessions made similar assertions.

"Here's my message to Mayor Schaaf: 'How dare you!'" the attorney general said. "How dare you needlessly endanger the lives of law enforcement officers to promote your radical open borders agenda."

Schwab said the numbers, widely quoted in media across the nation, were false because there was never any chance that all of the estimated 1,000 undocumented immigrants were going to be caught in the sweep.

“I didn’t feel like fabricating the truth to defend ourselves against (Schaaf’s) actions was the way to go about it,” Schwab said. “To say that 100% are dangerous criminals on the street, or that those people weren’t picked up because of the misguided actions of the mayor, is just wrong.”

Schaff applauded Schwab, citing his commitment to the truth.

“Our democracy depends on public servants who act with integrity and hold transparency in the highest regard," she said.