CA ICE Official Abruptly Quits After Trump's 'False Claims'

SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- The Trump administration's claim that more than 800 people living in the U.S. illegally avoided arrest recently prompted a California official for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement to abruptly quit. James Schwab, who served as a spokesman for the agency, said the number was actually "far lower" than reported by the administration.

Immigration officials said last month that approximately 864 people living in the U.S. illegally avoided a recent raid because Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf alerted the public about the pending arrests.

Roughly 150 people were arrested instead during the Northern California sweep, said ICE Deputy Director Thomas Homan.

"Thanks to the dedicated and professional work of ICE deportation officers, we were able to remove many public safety threats from the streets of the Bay Area during the past few days," Homan said in a February statement. "However, 864 criminal aliens and public safety threats remain at large in the community and I have to believe that some of them were able to elude us thanks to the mayor's irresponsible decision," Homan said, referring to a statement issued by Mayor Libby Schaaf on Saturday alerting her constituents of the impending operation."

But Schwab, who has worked for the agency for three years, told the San Francisco Chronicle the number is inflated.

“I quit because I didn’t want to perpetuate misleading facts,” Schwab told the newspaper. “I asked them to change the information. I told them that the information was wrong, they asked me to deflect, and I didn’t agree with that. Then I took some time and I quit.”

Schwab added that he "didn’t feel like fabricating the truth to defend ourselves against (Schaaf’s) actions was the way to go about it."

The Trump administration and the state of California have been at odds over how to address illegal immigration. Most recently, the administration announced a lawsuit against the state over laws they said protects immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.

Photo credit: John Moore/Getty Images, file photo

Also See:

• ICE Arrests 150 In NorCal Sweep, With 864 Still At Large
• 50 Detained In NorCal ICE Raid Following Warning: Report
• Oakland Mayor Warns Of Impending ICE Raids In Bay Area