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Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin accused Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas of encouraging attacks on United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on Monday.

Crockett compared ICE agents to “slave patrols” in the pre-Civil War South during a Friday appearance on “The Breakfast Club.” McLaughlin lit into Crockett for the comparison during an appearance on “America Reports.”

“You’ve got Democrats out there so publicly in what is a very heated moment of hot rhetoric that is out there. What’s going to give to get Democrats to stop vilifying these ICE agents and putting their lives and their families’ lives in danger every day?” co-host Sandra Smith asked McLaughlin.

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“Exactly. We need to stick with the facts. 70 percent of those illegal aliens who have been arrested under this administration have either prior criminal convictions or pending criminal charges against them,” McLaughlin responded. “Just over the weekend, as Alexis mentioned, we have arrested multiple child pedophiles, multiple rapists, really the worst of the worst on America’s streets. J.B. Pritzker, Brandon Johnson, who’s the mayor out of Chicago, they should actually be thanking our ICE law enforcement officers and helping us get these criminal illegal aliens off the ground. Instead, they continue to demonize our law enforcement officers.”

Crockett did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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President Donald Trump hinted at stepped-up federal enforcement efforts in Chicago in an Aug. 25 post on Truth Social, following it up with a meme based on a famous character from the “Apocalypse Now” posted Sept. 6 that included a reference to the film’s most famous quote, “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”

Resistance to ICE operations has been violent at times, with one person firing a pistol at ICE agents during a raid on two California marijuana farms in July.

“I think what really this is, when you continue to liken ICE to the Gestapo, to the Nazis, what Jasmine Crockett just did with likening them to slave patrols, they are dehumanizing our officers, and are giving OK to radical activists — they’re really giving them the permission slip to use violence against them,” McLaughlin said. “And it’s wrong, it’s disgusting and it has to stop now.”

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