Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf insisted on Wednesday evening that alerting illegal immigrants of potential Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids does not put law enforcement officers at risk.
When local news station KTVU asked Schaaf whether she believed her alert increased the dangers for law enforcement officers, Schaaf replied, “I do not.”
“How can it be dangerous and illegal simply to tell people what the law is, what their rights are, what their resources are? That’s all I did,” she added.
Earlier in the day, Attorney General Jeff Sessions called out the Oakland mayor in Sacramento after announcing that the Justice Department will be seeking to strike down California’s sanctuary policies because they violate the Supremacy Clause.
“How dare you?” Sessions asked. “How dare you needlessly endanger the lives of our law enforcement officers to promote a radical open borders agenda?”
Sessions also told Breitbart News’ Joel Pollak in an exclusive interview that Schaaf “made a colossal error” when she alerted illegal immigrants of ICE raids and said the Department of Justice will review her actions:
Breitbart News: The number one question people on social media wanted me to ask you was: will the Justice Department be taking action against Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, who warned illegal aliens in the Bay Area of ain impending ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] enforcement action and who has said she would be prepared to go to jail to protect her city’s status as a “sanctuary”jurisdiction. I know the acting director of ICE said there was a DOJ investigation into her. Can you comment on that? What are the prospects of that, going forward?
Sessions: I believe that the mayor made a colossal error in her statement that placed the safety of our federal law officers at risk, and that increased the likelihood that hundreds of serious criminals would avoid arrest and continue to remain on our streets, posing a risk to the people of the Bay Area. And we are in communication with [Acting ICE] Director [Thomas] Homan, and we look forward to reviewing the facts as they present them to our attorneys. But I couldn’t comment beyond that.
Sessions also pointed out that at least 800 illegal immigrants with criminal records did not get detained possibly because of Schaaf’s warning. Schaaf, though, said last week that she was not concerned that hundreds of potential criminal illegal immigrants were on the streets because of her ill-advised alert. And she again accused Sessions on Wednesday and Trump of “bigotry” and pushing a “racist agenda.”
“Oakland’s agenda is a thriving community. Trump’s agenda is bigotry and vindictiveness,” Schaaf said on Wednesday. “How dare you distort the reality about declining violent crime in a diverse sanctuary city like Oakland, California, to advance your racist agenda… How dare you distract the American people from a failed immigration system that tears apart decent families and forces the workers that our community depends on to harvest our crops, deliver our services, and build our cities to live in fear and work under oppressed conditions?”