SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Congressman Tony Gonzales (R-TX) hosted a telephone town hall featuring commentary from Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s border czar and former acting ICE director. Homan offered Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey a quick fix to the current ICE protests: “Stop being a sanctuary state, a sanctuary city.”
During Thursday’s town hall session, Homan offered advice to Minnesota officials after an introduction and comments from Congressman Gonzalez, who called Homan, “a patriot to our wonderful country who has spent his entire adult life protecting our borders. We’re all very grateful to have him as our border czar.”
In addition to a wide range of topics related to immigration, Homan touched upon the violence and unrest in Minneapolis that led to multiple arrests and the death of one anti-ICE agitator who was shot after refusing orders to stop and driving her vehicle toward an ICE Agent.
Homan gave listeners in the town hall his quick answer to the unrest, “The mayor and other local officials could fix this overnight by ending their sanctuary policies. Let us into the jails,” later adding, “Give us access in the jails so we can take custody of criminals in a controlled environment. Then we don’t have to go into neighborhoods to find them.”
According to officials on the ground in Minnesota, the violence and organized unrest facing agents in the city of Minneapolis is not happening in other states where local and state law enforcement officials are cooperating with the federal government’s efforts to enforce immigration laws.
In an exclusive interview with Breitbart Texas, Chief Border Patrol Agent Greg Bovino, currently in command of CBP forces in Minneapolis, said on Monday that nearly 25 assaults were recorded in the city in a span of four days, where only one occurred during a similar prolonged operation in New Orleans aimed at nabbing criminal illegal aliens.
“In Louisiana, Colonel Hodges, who is the Superintendent of the state police, helped tremendously to keep the agitators at bay when the line between peaceful protest and impeding federal agents was crossed. His officers are highly trained and only one assault on a Border Patrol agent was recorded while we were there recently, here in Minneapolis, we have no such support,” Bovino told Breitbart Texas.
Congressman Gonzales offered some hope to listeners during the call in the form of future legislation, saying, “In Congress, I’m pushing the COPS Act, which increases penalties for those who try to harm law enforcement officers, including our ICE officers. It’s not always a gun or a knife-sometimes it’s bottle rockets, fireworks, frozen bottles of water, and other projectiles. Our agents are getting hurt out in the field, and there is no room for that.”
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Before his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X @RandyClarkBBTX.
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