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Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf on Tuesday applauded former Bay Area ICE spokesman James Schwab for resigning last week over false statements he said the agency made.

“I commend Mr. Schwab for speaking the truth while under intense pressure to lie,” Schaaf said in a statement. “Our democracy depends on public servants who act with integrity and hold transparency in the highest regard.”

Schwab said he left the agency’s San Francisco office because he could not echo statements made by the Trump administration and ICE officials on Schaaf’s recent warning about immigration raids that he knew to be false.

He pointed to statements made by ICE Director Tom Homan and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who have said that Schaaf’s warning Feb. 24 about an ICE raid in Northern California resulted in several hundred undocumented immigrants eluding arrest, according to multiple media outlets.

Schwab’s departure comes amid a bitter battle between the Trump Administration and California. State officials have pledged to protect their immigrants communities at whatever cost, drawing the ire of federal officials intent on cracking down on illegal immigration.

Schwab, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday, told several media outlets that the statement was false, in part, because ICE raids never result in the arrest of everyone targeted. He told KTVU that the four-day operation last month, which led to the arrests of 232 undocumented immigrants, was “more successful than the agency had hoped.”

“I quit because I didn’t want to perpetuate misleading facts,” Schwab, 38, told the Chronicle. “I asked them to change the information. I told them that the information was wrong, they asked me to deflect, and I didn’t agree with that. Then I took some time and I quit.”

San Jose immigration lawyer Gabriel Jack has mixed feelings about Schwab’s departure, just as he has about other government employees who have left the EPA and State Department under the Trump administration.

“On the one hand, you’re glad that someone is standing up to the administration and telling them they’re spreading falsehoods and lies,” Jack said in an interview Tuesday. “But on the other hand, you want them to stay in, to bring these things up and stay in there. So what’s going to happen? He’s going to be replaced by someone who has sworn allegiance to the administration and that will make things more difficult, it seems to me.”

ICE spokesperson Liz Johnson issued the following statement regarding Schwab’s resignation.

“Even one criminal alien on the street can put public safety at risk and as Director Homan stated, while we can’t put a number on how many targets avoided arrest due to the mayor’s warning, it clearly had an impact,” Johnson wrote. “While we disagree with Mr. Schwab on this issue, we appreciate his service and wish him well.”

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Schwab said he was told to reinforce statements made by top ICE officials, including a Feb. 27 press release that reported more than 800 undocumented immigrants eluded arrest because of Schaaf’s warning to the public about the four-day operation.

Last week, President Donald Trump doubled down on Homan’s earlier criticism that Schaaf’s warning of imminent ICE activity tipped off criminals.

“What she did is incredible and very dangerous from the standpoint of ICE and border patrol,” Trump said.

Vice President Mike Pence also blasted Schaaf over the warning, telling Sean Hannity on Fox News Monday, “The mayor’s actions are disgraceful on a couple levels. Number one, she’s setting aside her oath of office to uphold the laws of the land, the rule of law.”

“The majority of individuals who are being targeted by immigration and customs enforcement had a criminal record,” he added. “So for the mayor of Oakland to warn them in advance of actions by ICE personnel actually put those law enforcement officers at risk; that’s just utterly unacceptable.”

Schwab took issue with the assertion that Schaff’s warning resulted in several hundred people escaping arrest.

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Judges: Trump can’t exclude people from district drawings “Director Homan and the Attorney General said there were 800 people at large and free to roam because of the actions of the Oakland Mayor,” Schwab told CNN. “Personally I think her actions were misguided and not responsible. I think she could have had other options. But to blame her for 800 dangerous people out there is just false.”