President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he is contemplating the withdrawal of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcements agents from California, Bloomberg reports.
The Trump administration has criticized California, one of the self-declared sanctuary states, for failing to cooperate with United States authorities that facilitate raids and enforcement of the administration’s immigration policies.
“Frankly, it’s a disgrace, the sanctuary city situation,” Trump said in a statement at the White House. Trump said that removing ICE from California would be a punishment for a “lousy management job” enforcing immigration policies. “Frankly, if I pulled our people from California, you would have a crime nest like you’ve never seen in California.”
According to CNN, it is unclear how serious Trump was about the proposal. This statement comes a week after a five-day raid in the Los Angeles area that resulted in over 200 arrests and 122 notices of inspection for local businesses. California’s position as a key border state also makes it unlikely that immigration authorities would pull out of the state, CNN reports.
State officials declared California a sanctuary state in October of 2017, and have passed several laws protecting the citizens and private employers from ICE investigators who do not have warrants, as well as banning “state and local law enforcement agencies, including school police and security departments,” from aiding federal authorities with deportations.
