ICE Chief Threatens More Raids in Sanctuary Cities, Praises California's Shift on Cooperation

Todd Lyons, the acting chief of ICE, is turning up the heat on sanctuary cities that refuse to play ball with federal immigration agents. In a recent interview, Lyons made it clear that if these jurisdictions keep stonewalling, ICE will "ramp up" its raids to target criminal illegal immigrants, regardless of local resistance.

According to Lyons, "The more they're going to double down or triple down, we're going to ramp it up more." He emphasized that ICE wants cooperation, but if they can’t get it, the agency will bring all its law enforcement muscle to bear. "If you don't want to work with us, we're going to handle the problem," he said, sounding like a man who’s not here for a polite debate.

Interestingly, Lyons had some rare praise for California Governor Gavin Newsom, who recently indicated his state would work with ICE to honor detainer requests—at least in certain cases. This olive branch came after public outrage over the early release of an undocumented immigrant convicted of vehicular manslaughter. California has long worn its sanctuary status like a badge, but even Newsom seems to see the logic in working with ICE when the stakes are this high. Sometimes reality makes even the most stubborn politicians blink.

Lyons called Newsom’s move a "commonsense approach," pointing out, "When people see exactly the individual that ICE is dealing with, how could you not work with ICE in a case like that?"

Since the start of the Trump administration, ICE has arrested more than 6,000 illegal immigrants in just the first 100 days. Lyons says the focus is on removing "the worst of the worst"—violent gang members, sex offenders, and fentanyl traffickers. As he put it, "ICE is out there protecting communities, taking these public safety threats away from our neighborhoods, protecting our children." Hard to argue with priorities like that—unless your hobby is defending sex offenders, which, thankfully, is not a common pastime.

Congress is also weighing the possibility of giving ICE the green light for 10,000 more agents, something Lyons called a "game changer." He recounted a recent Boston operation where, despite their best efforts, more criminal aliens were being released from sanctuary jurisdictions in real time, even as teams were out making arrests. It’s almost like trying to drain a pool while someone’s still filling it up—talk about a never-ending job.