Remember the smug grin on Mamdani’s face whenever he claims ICE has no enforcement authority within New York’ city limits? Well, about that…
Mamdani and Tom Homan aren’t just on opposite sides of the immigration issue, they’re emerging as placeholders representing Immigration’s ideological battle itself. Sort of like Fauci for COVID misinformation, or Pelosi for her questionable stock market success.
On one side, Tom Homan is emerging as the no-nonsense endorse the law as it was written guy. Until Congress changes the black letter law on the books, he’s going to enforce what’s already there. On the other, is Mamdani. Ideological firebrand willing not only to push the boundaries, but to push through any legal constraints on his power in service of what he believes to be a greater good.
With Mamdani expanding his promises to shield illegal immigrants in NYC, and explicit forbidding of New York’s legal system from cooperating with ICE operations, Homan has responded by ramping up and intensifying operations in New York for a set period of time.
That operation is now underway. And Tom Homan’s operation just got a BIG assist from an unexpected source: American First Legal
Based upon a currently unreleased 35-page handbook obtained by Fox News reportedly created by America First Legal, it would appear the aforementioned nonprofit is spearheading an effort in New York City on their “strong and secure borders” mission via educating local police officers on their rights to engage with ICE despite any local policies and orders prohibiting such.
The unreleased booklet, aptly titled, “Law Enforcement Officer Immigration Cooperation Guide,” outlines how NYPD officers can freely share a subject’s immigration status with ICE, pointing to Section 1373 of Title 8 of the U.S. Code which expressly forbids local governments from prohibiting their employees or law enforcement officers from communicating with federal agencies like ICE.
Per the federal statute’s general section, it reads in part, “a Federal, State, or local government entity or official may not prohibit, or in any way restrict, any government entity or official from sending to, or receiving from, the Immigration and Naturalization Service information regarding the citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any individual.”
[…]
America First Legal’s booklet informs officers they can contact ICE’s 24-hour Law Enforcement Support Center where only a name and date of birth would be needed to verify a subject’s immigration status, reiterating that officers can contact the hotline “regardless of any local directive telling you not to.” — LawEnforcementToday
As for the folks leaking sensitive information about upcoming ICE operations in the field? Homan just announced that the DOJ has opened a second criminal prosecution on someone identified as the likely culprit.
