Democrat Govs. Kathy Hochul of New York and J.B. Pritzker of Illinois dared border czar Tom Homan to arrest them on Thursday while Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz completely dodged the question about a hypothetical arrest.
Homan told NBC News on Tuesday that a government official could face prosecution if they obstruct federal agents’ official actions in response to Los Angeles, California, riots that retaliated against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. During a House Oversight Committee hearing, Hochul and Pritzker dared Homan to arrest them and stated that he cannot “intimidate” a governor.
“If Tom Homan comes to Albany [New York] to arrest me, I’ll say ‘go for it.’ You can’t intimidate a governor,” Hochul said. “What is this country coming to? When people can threaten us on social media and on cable news and try to stop us from doing our jobs. We’re on the frontlines every day fighting to defend our rights, our values, and the public safety of our residents. So anything threatening our responsibility is an assault on our democracy, nothing short of that.”
“Thank you, congressman,” Pritzker began. “Look, let me begin by saying I have the highest duty to protect the people of my state and indeed, if Tom Homan, came to try and arrest me, I can say first of all that he can try. I can also tell you that I will stand in the way of Tom Homan going after people who don’t deserve to be frightened in their communities, who don’t deserve to be threatened, terrorized. I’d rather that he came and arrested me than do that to the people of my state.”
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Walz then said governors and Congress “need to work together” in order to solve crime and that threatening arrests does not help anyone.
“Threatening … I did not realize it, I guess. I did not realize how much animosity there is here. We have a responsibility to the American public to work together and threatening arrest on elected officials, congressman, it doesn’t help any of us,” Walz said.
Following Homan’s interview with NBC News, the network reported that the border czar had threatened to arrest Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democrat Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass if they obstructed ICE raids in Los Angeles. Homan disputed the report, stating during a “Morning Joe” interview that he had never outright threatened to arrest either government official.
Newsom dared Homan to arrest him during an interview with NBC News’ Jacob Soboroff, and accused President Donald Trump’s administration of “bloviating” on the issue.
“Come after me, arrest me. Let’s just get it over with, tough guy,” Newsom said. “You know, I don’t give a damn. But I care about my community, I care about this community. The hell are they doing? These guys need to grow up, they need to stop and we need to push back and I’m sorry to be so clear, but that kind of bloviating is disgusting. So Tom, arrest me. Let’s go.”
Trump told reporters on Monday that Homan should arrest Newsom, stating that the California governor is a “nice guy” who is “grossly incompetent.”
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