President Donald Trump‘s border czar Tom Homan, who is helping the Trump administration carry out its hardline immigration policies, issued a warning on Saturday to Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox for not cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.

Newsweek has reached out to ICE and Cox’s office via email for comment on Saturday.

Why It Matters

Massachusetts’ handling of immigration became a key point of tension between ICE and the state last year, as operations to round up known criminals and suspects were ramped up by federal agents. The state’s sanctuary policies mean that courts and law enforcement do not have to comply with ICE orders.

Homan’s warning comes after sanctuary policies are coming under scrutiny as Homan and the administration have made similar warnings arguing that these get in the way of mass deportation and other enforcement efforts that have proven popular in polling both before and after the election.

An Associated Press-NORC poll, conducted from January 9 to 13 among 1,147 adults, found that 83 percent of Americans support deporting migrants living in the U.S. illegally who have been convicted of a violent crime, while only 6 percent would oppose doing so.

What To Know

Speaking at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland, Homan warned Cox that he is “coming to Boston” and “bringing hell” after the police commissioner said his department does not comply with ICE’s civil immigration detainers.

“Police commissioner of Boston, you said you’d double down on not helping the law enforcement officers of ICE, I’m coming to Boston and I’m bringing hell with me. I looked at the numbers this morning, I stopped counting at nine, nine child rapists that were in jail in Massachusetts but rather than honoring an ICE retainer, released back onto the street. You’re not a police commissioner. Take that badge off your chest, put it in a desk drawer because you became a politician. You forgot what it’s like to be a cop,” Homan, a former police officer and Border Patrol agent, said on Saturday.

Cox, appointed by Democratic Mayor Michelle Wu in 2022, affirmed on local news station WCVB last Sunday that his department does not comply with ICE’s civil immigration detainers.

“The Boston Police Department has pretty defined rules, and we abide by the law here in the state, and we don’t enforce civil detainers regarding federal immigration law,” he said.

Cox added: “Our department abides by Boston law and Massachusetts law. We don’t have the authority to enforce federal immigration law. So, from our perspective, what we tell anyone who comes to visit our city or lives in our city is that we don’t care about your immigration status. What we do care about, is are you a victim of crime in our city or are you a victimizer? We still hold you accountable for that, no matter what your immigration status is.”

This comes as courts in Massachusetts do not have to enforce ICE detainers after a ruling in 2017 by the state’s highest court that was meant to tackle “anti-immigrant policies” during the early days of the first Trump administration.

Maura Healey, then the state attorney general and now its Democratic governor, said in a statement at the time that the ruling would protect residents from illegal detention.

In late January, Healey told reporters that Massachusetts was not a sanctuary state and that officials needed to follow the law when it came to immigration enforcement, especially when agents were targeting known criminals. The state’s Democratic Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell affirmed that leaders would not stand for any enforcement they saw as illegal.

Homan’s remarks mirror previous comments he made in November when he said he was willing to throw Denver Mayor Mike Johnston in jail over his protests about mass deportation.

“But look, me and the Denver mayor, we agree on one thing—he’s willing to go to jail, I’m willing to put him in jail because there there’s a statute. It’s Title 8 United States Code 1324 (iii). And what it says is it’s a felony if you knowingly harbor and conceal an illegal alien from immigration authorities. It’s also a felony to impede a federal law enforcement officer,” Homan told Hannity during an interview on Fox News at the time.

It comes after Johnston said he was willing to go to jail to stop possible mass deportation efforts under the incoming Trump administration.

“I’m not afraid of that and I’m also not seeking that,” he said during an interview with a local NBC affiliate.

What People Are Saying

Border czar Tom Homan on Newsmax earlier this month: “I said from day one, we’re going to be litigated every day. Every step we take to secure that border. Every step we take to remove millions of illegal aliens who were illegally released into this country by the Biden administration.”

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey at a press conference in January: “When it comes to actual civil immigration enforcement, that is something that, by law, is delegated, it is the authority of federal law enforcement.”

Several Democratic governors and mayors previously promised to protect undocumented migrants in their communities, using sanctuary laws that have prevented local officials and law enforcement from assisting ICE.

What Happens Next

ICE raids and deportations are expected to continue under Trump’s administration as immigrant communities, local governments and advocacy groups continue to brace for the impact of the president’s deportations efforts.