Border czar Tom Homan fired back at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., warning the “tables have now turned” after she taunted him at a town hall addressing the Trump administration’s deportations.
“I take pleasure [that] I can live with her mind rent-free every day, but we all know exactly what she’s doing,” Homan told Laura Ingraham on Tuesday.
“She’s educating the worst of the worst [on] how do we evade law enforcement. But the tables have now turned. She’s educating people how to get prosecuted, because you have a final order.”
“It is illegal to not comply with that order,” he added.
“It’s a crime to take steps to… not comply with ICE removal orders or not comply with ICE actions taken in custody. You can’t hinder your own removal that was ordered by the federal judge. I would like AOC to read Title 8, United States Code 1253 because it’s starting tomorrow.”
Ocasio-Cortez told attendees at a Queens town hall event on Friday that she was not afraid of Homan in the wake of her office hosting a “Know your Rights” webinar in February.
The session advised migrants in her district about their rights if they come face to face looking to deport them.
People were recommended to ask for warrants, record searches if ICE came calling and were given tips on how to differentiate between different warrants ICE agents are likely to carry.
Homan has suggested her actions might be illegal and may impede Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from carrying out the Trump administration’s mass deportations.
“Tom Homan said he was going to refer me to DOJ because I’m using my free speech rights in order to advise people of their constitutional protections. To that I say: Come for me, do I look like I care?” Ocasio-Cortez told a cheering crowd.
Ocasio-Cortez asserted that there was “nothing illegal about it and if they want to make it illegal, they can come take me.”
Homan vowed criminal prosecution for anyone hindering the deportation of illegal immigrants, warning anyone guilty of doing so will face prosecution starting Wednesday.
“Game’s over. We’re going to look for these public safety threats, and we’re going to take them off those streets in New York and every other sanctuary city,” he said.
“As a matter of fact, every sanctuary in the city, we’re going to triple the workforce. We’re going flood the zone with officers. If we can’t arrest them in the jail, we’ll arrest them in the community. If we cannot arrest them in the community, we will arrest them on their work site.”
“We’re taking these public safety threats off the streets with your help or without your help.”
Fox News’ Michael Dorgan, Alec Schemmel and Taylor Penney contributed to this report.