Todd Lyons, acting director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, blasted a proposal by Democrats to develop tracking apps that would identify and monitor federal immigration officers, telling Newsmax on Wednesday that such technology could endanger lives.
Appearing on “Rob Schmitt Tonight,” Lyons said the idea of elected officials calling for tools that track ICE personnel is reckless and dangerous.
Lyons was reacting to Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., who announced Monday that a tracker app by House Democrats would be coming online in the coming weeks.
“Just to hear an elected official get up there and say they’re going to create a tracking mechanism to keep track of law enforcement officers — I’ve said it many times, and unfortunately, I have to keep saying it: These tracking apps are like putting a map in a hitman’s hands,” Lyons told host Rob Schmitt.
Lyons said violence against federal officers has escalated by "way more" than 1,000% this year, citing sniper-style attacks and armed assaults on ICE and Border Patrol facilities.
“We’ve already seen a sniper attack, we’ve already seen a military-style ambush at an ICE facility. A Border Patrol facility got shot up in Brownsville,” he said. “It is getting worse and worse.”
The veteran ICE official said he’s alarmed that some public officials are fueling hostility toward law enforcement through their rhetoric.
“Elected officials are the ones stoking the fire,” Lyons said. “ICE officers — 99% of our arrests before never had any incidents like this.
"But they're the ones calling for arms, calling for people to stand up, come resist the men and women that work for me, when all they’re trying to do is their sworn law enforcement duty.”
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