MALDEF STATEMENT CALLING FOR REMOVAL OF ACTING ICE DIRECTOR BASED ON THREAT TO PROSECUTE LEADERS OF SANCTUARY JURISDICTIONS

MALDEF

January 3, 2018

(Los Angeles, CA) - Please attribute the following statement on Acting ICE Director Thomas Homan’s threat to criminally prosecute leaders of sanctuary jurisdictions to MALDEF President and General Counsel Thomas A. Saenz:

“In what can only be characterized as astonishing emulation of a Cold War-era, Eastern European security chief, Acting ICE Director Thomas Homan yesterday asserted that elected state and local officials should be held ‘personally accountable’ for immigration integration policies – with which Homan disagrees – through federal criminal prosecution. Homan’s statements expose that he is completely unfit for the position to which he has been nominated.

In the United States, state and local elected officials are held ‘personally accountable’ by voters, not by threats of unwarranted criminal prosecution. In California, the chief target of Homan’s unhinged vitriol, voters can decide not to reelect officials with whom they disagree, or even to recall them prior to the next election. In the United States, unlike dictatorial regimes operating behind a thin facade of democracy, national officials do not threaten to prosecute local and state elected officeholders whose policy views differ from their own.

Our Constitution protects against such anti-democratic practices. Homan’s statement violates the First Amendment, Tenth Amendment, and Fourteenth Amendment in seeking to intimidate state and local officeholders elected by voters to policymaking positions. Because he apparently adheres to the views of a dangerous crypto-totalitarian thug, Homan should not hold any position of authority in our government. Homan should be removed immediately.”

Founded in 1968, MALDEF is the nation's leading Latino legal civil rights organization. Often described as the "Latino Legal Voice for Civil Rights in America" MALDEF promotes social change through advocacy, communications, community education, and litigation in the areas of education, employment, immigrant rights, and political access. For more information on MALDEF, please visit: www.maldef.org.