Tom Homan calls on Oregon DA to resign after attending anti-ICE protest: 'Direct conflict of his duties'
Feds called in to assist after anti-ICE protest
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News contributor Tom Homan is calling on a district attorney in Oregon to immediately resign after he attended and supported hundreds of protesters Wednesday night blocking U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Bend.
Federal agents say the two men arrested were a "threat to the public," but Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel, who attended the protest, wrote on Twitter he's "never been so disgusted by my government and so proud of my community."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"[Hummel] should resign today," Homan, a retired acting ICE director, told "Fox & Friends" Thursday.
"It is disgusting. He is in direct conflict of his duties as a district attorney to, number one, protect his community. Number two, protect law enforcement and the rule of law."
Protesters blocking an unmarked ICE bus hold up their hands as federal agents arrive in Bend, Ore. (Garrett Andrews/The Bulletin)
The protest, which spanned hours after two unmarked ICE buses were blocked by hundreds in the city, which is about a three-hour drive from Portland, was just the latest episode in tensions among protesters, local police and federal agents as calls to abolish ICE pick up steam.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"It's really disgusting," Homan told host Brian Kilmeade. "ICE is helping protect that community but, look, the state of Washington, the state of Oregon has been taken over by the progressive left, and for the police department to stand there and do nothing."
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He added: "What really irritates me is the district attorney of that county ... is supposed to be about law enforcement protecting the community, enforcing the law and prosecuting criminals, that's what ICE is doing in his county. He should be thanking them, not saying he's disgusted with them."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Acting DHS Deputy Secretary Ken Cucinelli tweeted: “The law enforcement activity in Bend, Oregon is part of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s mission to arrest criminal aliens presenting a danger to public safety and take them off the street. The two individuals arrested each had a history of criminal violent behavior."
Bend Mayor Sally Russell said she doesn't support ICE.
“I am very worried for everyone in our community, and especially our Latinx community,” Rusell tweeted. “ICE is a Federal agency and frustratingly we have no power over the Executive Branch of our country.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Newly sworn-in Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said in a news conference earlier that local police were there only to protect protesters and were not assisting ICE. Police stepped back when federal agents arrived.
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Reacting to a clip of Sen. Kamala Harris, who was picked as presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden's vice president, compare ICE to the Ku Klux Klan on Capitol Hill during a hearing on the border, Homan accused Harris of making a "racist statement."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Men and women of ICE are American patriots," he explained. "They are enforcing laws that Congress enacted, her, a member of Congress. ICE isn't making this up. Nine out of 10 people ICE arrests are public safety threats. They either have a pending conviction or pending criminal charges. They're enforcing the law, protecting this country, and to compare them to the KKK is ridiculous."
Fox News' Brie Stimson contributed to this report.