President Donald Trump said Thursday he’s “thinking” about pulling federal border enforcement officials out of California because his immigration agenda has received “no help” from the sanctuary state.

After passing legislation addressing the matter, California entered 2018 as an official sanctuary state, refusing to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement officials — such as those from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — in most cases.

Trump said during a roundtable discussion at the White House that he has just about had enough with California.

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“We’re getting no help from the state of California,” Trump said. “I mean, frankly, if I wanted to pull our people from California, you would have a crime mess like you’ve never seen in California. All I’d have to do is say, ‘ICE and Border Patrol, let California alone.’ You’d be inundated — you would see crime like nobody’s ever seen crime in this country.”

The president praised his administration for “literally getting MS-13 out by the thousands” after cracking down on the violent gangs. But the gang members are “smart,” Trump said, noting that they “actually have franchises going to Los Angeles” that were thriving in the sanctuary state.

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“And yet, we get no help from the state of California. They are doing a lousy management job. They have the highest taxes in the nation. And they don’t know what’s happening out there,” Trump said.

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The president said the whole situation is “a disgrace,” adding that California willfully protects “horrible criminals” by refusing to cooperate with ICE in many situations.

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“If we ever pulled our ICE out, and we ever said, ‘Hey, let California alone, let them figure it out for themselves,’ in two months they’d be begging for us to come back,” Trump said. “They would be begging. And you know what, I am thinking about doing it.”

It is unclear whether the president was serious about considering the removal of ICE officials from California, or merely sought to push state officials to reconsider sanctuary status.

Acting ICE Director Thomas Homan assured California law enforcement officials in January, during an interview on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle,” that “ICE has your six” and “will never turn our back on law enforcement.”

Homan said, “If you’re out there doing a lawful operation and you are in need of assistance, if you find yourself in trouble and there’s an ICE agent within earshot or in the area, we will do everything we can in our legal authority to assist you.”

PoliZette writer Kathryn Blackhurst can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter.