Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly visited San Diego on Friday and used part of his time here to accompany immigration agents on predawn arrests and inspected one of the numerous tunnels Mexican smugglers have constructed under the U.S. border fence. He also met with federal border security agencies and local law enforcement officials.

Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general who once led the U.S. Southern Command, now leads the department that houses the key border security agencies — Customs and Border Protection, the Border Patrol, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In remarks to local officials and news reporters, Kelly addressed the Trump administration’s travel ban, the effectiveness of border barriers and stepped-up ICE immigration arrests this week.


In a meeting in a conference room at the San Ysidro Port of Entry with state, local and federal law enforcement officials, he said he had met with similar groups this week in Texas and Arizona and was “trying to get my hands around and better understand the border communities.”

Kelly said he also received feedback from officials on the administration’s proposed border wall. He talked tough on the issue of sanctuary cities and the refusal by many local law enforcement agencies not to cooperate with federal immigration work.

San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman asked for a definition of a sanctuary city, according to a pool report of the meeting. “I have no clue,” Kelly responded.

With cars entering the United States from Mexico as his backdrop, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly spoke about immigration issues at a news conference Friday at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune)


Zimmerman’s boss, Mayor Kevin Faulconer, has insisted San Diego is not a sanctuary city and does work with immigration authorities. But it’s not clear if the level of cooperation provided will satisfy President Donald Trump. No city in San Diego County calls itself a sanctuary city.

“It’s inconceivable to me that people who are sworn to protect their communities would not want someone, anyone to remove criminals from their communities and send them somewhere else,” Kelly said. ”I’m stunned when people say, well, we’re not going to cooperate with you even in the event of convicted criminals.

“I understand that every community is different. You are all under different pressures. It would be hard for me to justify giving grant money to cooperate with removal operations and you were not able to help us with that.”

Kelly said, however, that the federal government will “work with you and will make no Draconian moves until I fully understand what a given locale might be doing or not doing.”


Historically, local police don’t assist in federal immigration arrests, contending unauthorized immigrants would be less likely to cooperate with police crime-fighting efforts if they were afraid of being turned over to immigration.

At his news conference, Kelly also addressed the executive order Trump issued that banned entry into the country of people from seven predominantly Muslim nations and refugees for a limited time. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld a restraining order issued by a lower court judge in Washington state that halted enforcement of the ban.

Kelly said the order was a “pause” on people from those countries entering the U.S. because information from those nations on individuals entering the country were either unreliable or nonexistent. “The vetting process from citizens of those countries are, at best, loose,” he said.

He acknowledged he was worried about the stay preventing enforcement of the order. “I am concerned that we are unable to vet those folks who are coming here in a more meaningful way,” Kelly said.


Also, on Friday, Mexican authorities reported the discovery of another tunnel, though it did not reach the U.S. Asked about that discovery in light of the goal of the Trump administration to build a wall along the entire Southwest border, Kelly said it was a sign of how effective the barrier that has been built so far is.

“I would argue the fact they (drug cartels) are spending huge amounts of money to tunnel underneath the wall tells you they can’t get through it,” he said. “That tells me the barrier, and the people who patrol it, are very effective today.”

His visit came on a day swirling with rumors and reports of increased immigration enforcement sweeps in Southern California and other areas of the country.

In San Diego, there were reports of sweeps in Vista that ICE denied. In a statement, the agency said that “rumors currently being circulated, primarily on social media, claiming the agency is conducting widespread traffic stops throughout northern San Diego County are completely baseless.”


In addressing the reports, Kelly said, “The people who ICE apprehended are people who are here illegally — and then some.”

He said he got an up-close look at ICE enforcement Friday before 6 a.m.

“I went out this morning on two what they call knock and talks,” he said. That is when officers go to homes of suspects, knock on their doors and ask for consent to enter.

“Went to one house, knocked on the door, and took a particularly bad individual, a male into custody,” Kelly said. A visit to a second home yielded two more arrests, he said.


“ICE is executing the law,” he said.

Twitter: @gregmoran

greg.moran@sduniontribune.com