Leftist agitators are forcing the Trump administration to take a harder line, effectively learning the consequences of obstructing law enforcement, as President Donald Trump has, in the words of Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons, "taken the handcuffs off the cops" and put them on criminals and those who interfere.
"Right now, President Trump's taking the handcuffs off the cops," Lyons told Newsmax on Tuesday night. "He's allowing us to enforce the Immigration and Nationality Act the way it's written."
Lyons joined the show to describe what he said are numerous ways leftist agitators are obstructing law enforcement and forcing officers into situations that the media then portrays negatively, distracting from what he called the administration's lawful operations.
"Most of the national media leaves out the important part of why we were there," Lyons said.
"Go back to look at the known suspected terrorists, the TdA gang members, the fentanyl dealers that ISIS taken out of our neighborhoods and communities."
Democrats, he said, are also contributing to the obstruction by drafting legislation in Democrat strongholds that would bar ICE officers from future careers in law enforcement.
"To demonize them and then not let them be local or state law enforcement after they've done their ICE career and when they want to continue to serve, that's automatically assuming that ICE officers are in the wrong and that just can't happen," Lyons lamented.
He urged critics to "lead, follow, or get out of the way," adding that ICE will continue its work undeterred by what he described as obstruction, defamation, and slander.
"There are so many people that voted for President Trump's agenda that want ICE to make their neighborhoods safer, but all too often we're portrayed in the worst way," Lyons said.
"So the first thing is: When ICE is out there, we are going out on targeted enforcement operations. So we know the targets we are going after, and unfortunately, we've seen a lot of agitators, a lot of people impeding ICE, a lot of people assaulting officers, and unfortunately, some of them are U.S. citizens.
"But the problem is, if you're a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or an illegal alien, and you impede or you assault or strike an officer, you are going to be arrested by ICE, an ICE special agent, deportation officer, federal law enforcement officers.
"They have the ability to arrest those agitators or people that commit crimes, including U.S. citizens."
He said enforcement would be easier and safer with cooperation that sanctuary cities and states Democrats refuse to provide.
"I want the American people to know that ICE is out there every day focused on the worst of the worst, and unfortunately, a lot in the mainstream don't report on the people who are actually removing and arresting from our neighborhoods," Lyons said.
"One thing I've said ever since I became the ICE director is the fact that if state and local jurisdictions would work with us to turn over these worst of the worst, these public safety threats ... I would much rather have two agents take and arrest an individual and secure environment, like a local jail lockup or a state prison, instead of having to send five or six agents out to make the arrest. That makes no one safer, right?"
He also pointed to Minnesota, saying Democrat leaders there have fueled obstruction and are now reportedly facing subpoenas.
"Homeland Security Investigations, along with the FBI and our other federal partners, are taking a deep dive and looking at criminal investigations to these groups that sponsor these agitators," Lyons said.
"You have people that are coming into these neighborhoods that aren't even from, you know, Minneapolis or Saint Paul that are injecting themselves into law enforcement situation.
"You know, unfortunately, with that type of shooting or any law enforcement incident, our hearts, minds and prayers go out to everybody involved. No one in law enforcement wants any situation like that.
"But we also don't want people getting themselves involved in a law enforcement situation that they don't need to be there in the first place."
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Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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