A former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director says Democrats learned nothing from the 2024 election and are now doing everything possible to obstruct the agency.
In a conversation with Tennessee GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn, former ICE acting director Jonathan Fahey ripped Democrats for purportedly failing to moderate their position on illegal immigration and have instead attempted to disrupt federal immigration enforcement “at every turn.” The blistering comments come in the wake of widespread anti-ICE demonstrations in major cities and the passage of sanctuary laws by liberal legislators.
“They’re doing everything they can to impede and obstruct any ICE enforcement,” Fahey said during an appearance on Blackburn’s “Unmuted” podcast, shared first with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“And it’s funny that you look at the last election and you think one of the lessons they could have learned was to moderate their open border position, but in fact, it seems like they doubled down on that open borders position,” Fahey continued. “But they can’t articulate that they are for open borders, so what they’re doing is just disrupting, impeding ICE at every turn, defaming law enforcement, which is almost like a standard practice of the Democratic Party, unfortunately.”
Fahey, who served as acting ICE director in the waning days of Trump’s first term, said he’s confident the vast majority of Americans are perfectly fine with deporting gang members.
“I haven’t seen polling on it, but I would expect 95% of the American people would support deporting gang members,” Fahey said to Blackburn. “But unfortunately, the Democratic Party has really doubled down on the mass immigration, open borders, and we all know it’s for political purposes because they see these as future voters, and they say a lot that they always talk about a path of citizenship.”
President Donald Trump returned to office on a pledge to stem the border crisis and conduct the largest deportation operation in U.S. history — and his administration has so far made great strides toward achieving these goals.
Customs and Border Protection revealed there were a grand total of zero illegal migrants released into the country for the entire month of May, a far cry from the roughly 62,000 released in May 2024 under the Biden administration. The White House is also inching closer to its goal of 3,000 daily ICE arrests, with deportation officers notching more than 2,000 daily arrests so far.
However, these gains have not come without protest from the opposing party.
Major Democrat-run cities across the U.S. have either enacted or doubled down on sanctuary policies since Trump’s 2024 victory, making it that much more difficult for federal law enforcement agents to apprehend criminal illegal migrants. More recently, the Los Angeles area became the epicenter of large-scale riots against deportations, costing LA more than $20 million in damages.
While Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, both Democrats, openly sparred with the president on how to end the violence, other Democratic politicians have gone so far as to physically tussle with federal immigration agents.
Democratic Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested in May after being denied entry into a nearby ICE detention facility alongside several Democratic congressional lawmakers. Initially accused of trespassing, the charge against Baraka was later dropped. Democratic New Jersey Rep. LaMonica McIver was soon charged with two counts of assaulting officers for her alleged role in the chaotic incident.
ICE agents detained New York City Comptroller Brad Lander — who is running for mayor — Tuesday after he allegedly assaulted federal law enforcement officers who were attempting to take custody of an individual at immigration court.
When the Trump administration deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia — a suspected MS-13 gangbanger and an accused domestic abuser charged with leading a years-long migrant smuggling operation — Democrats took out all the stops on his behalf. Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, followed by a slate of U.S. lawmakers, visited El Salvador to demand his return to the U.S., a request that was eventually fulfilled so the illegal migrant could face charges of human smuggling.
“And I think at some point the Democratic Party sort of shifted from sort of being supportive [of the working people] and they traded them for the identity politics and illegal immigration, thinking that would be a longer-term benefit,” the former ICE chief continued. “I think they’re sticking with that unfortunately, and we’re all left [unsafe] because of it.”
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