Border czar Tom Homan sends message to far-left officials pushing back against mass deportations: 'Game on'

Border czar Tom Homan issued a stark warning to blue cities and states resisting the Trump administration's mass deportations, telling far-left officials who want to stifle the efforts, "game on."

"We're just trying to help public safety in your community," Homan told Lawrence Jones during "Fox & Friends" on Wednesday. 

"Help, work with us because you've forced us in the community. Here's what's going to happen. We'll find the bad guy, but when we find him, he's going to be with others, others that may not be a criminal priority. But guess what? If they're in the United States illegally, they're going to be arrested, too."

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"Sanctuary cities are going to get exactly what they don't want, more agents in the communities, more people arrested, more collaterals arrested. So that's a game they want to play? Game on," he continued. 

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is just one of the attorneys general among the batch of far-left officials that have pushed back against the Trump administration's efforts to reduce the surge of illegal immigrants. 

She previously defended Dreamers, beneficiaries of the Obama-era DACA program, saying any federal attempts to send them to their home countries would be "a bright red line for me."

"I also will not have any part of and will fight the attempt to set up what I believe are essentially concentration camps and family separation camps in the state of Arizona," she said Tuesday. 

Homan called her remarks "insulting" and a misrepresentation of the truth. 

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"We said right out of the gate, Lawrence… we're going to concentrate on public safety," he shot back. "So she's saying that she doesn't want public safety threats out of the community? I also am insulted by the term concentration camps. Are you serious?" 

"We just lost a Border Patrol agent to a shooting up in Vermont yesterday, and they're the Gestapo? Are you serious? Concentration camps? ICE has detention centers. They have the best standards in the entire industry," he continued. "I'll compare ICE detention standards in any state or federal facility or any county facility in the entire world. We got the highest detention standards, so that's an insult, and it's a lie."

Homan noted that there were 766 apprehensions at the southern border within the last 24 hours, compared to thousands on any given day under the Biden administration. He also said U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents did not release anyone.  

The border czar called the stark pivot a "game-changer."

"We're concentrating on the worst first, the public safety threats and national security threats," Homan said. "And just yesterday, in the last 24 hours, ICE arrested over 308... serious criminals. Some of them were murderers. Some of them were rapists. Some of them raped a child. Some were sexual assault of a child."

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"So ICE is doing their job, and they're prioritizing, just as the president said they would," he continued. "ICE is performing excellent right now out in the field and they're going to continue every day."

Homan confirmed mass deportations began Tuesday following Trump's inauguration as the new administration kicks off its crackdown on illegal immigration, reiterating the importance of the mission as it pertains to public safety and national security. 

"I want to save lives. Secure border saves lives," Homan said. "When President Trump locks this border down, less women and children will be sex trafficked in this country, less aliens would die making that journey. Under President Biden, we've had a record number of people die crossing that border [and a] 600% increase in sex trafficking."

"You can't have strong national security if you don't have border security," he continued. "So we need to know who's coming in, what's coming in, where it's coming and why is coming in. So, again, President Trump [is a] game-changer. [He] already made a significant difference on that border. This country's already strong because of President Trump."

Fox News' Charles Creitz contributed to this report.