'Your Mayor Sucks And Your Governor Sucks,' Trump's Border Czar Tells Chicago Partygoers

CHICAGO — Incoming border czar Tom Homan told Chicago Republicans Monday that President-elect Donald Trump's mass deportation program would begin in Chicago, calling on Illinois Democrats to negotiate with the incoming administration or face prosecution .

Homan made the comments at a Christmas party hosted by the Law & Order PAC and the Northwest Side GOP in Chicago's Portage Park neighborhood. Tickets started at $125.

Homan reportedly took to the stage to a remix of George Thorogood & The Destroyers' "Bad to the Bone" at the event, which drew a crowd of local Republicans and a small number of Democratic officials.

A vocal critic of sanctuary city policies, Homan warned that federal enforcement efforts would target Chicago first under Trump’s administration. He singled out local leaders, including Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, for their refusal to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“Chicago is in trouble because your mayor sucks and your governor sucks,” Homan said, to applause from the room, Politico reported.

An immigration enforcement veteran, Homan worked as a Border Patrol agent, investigator and supervisor under what was then called the Immigration and Naturalization Service before he was appointed by former President Barack Obama as executive associate director of Enforcement and Removal Operations at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He later served as acting ICE director under President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2018.

Homan on Monday said Chicago residents can expect to see more federal immigration agents after Trump takes office a second time, adding that he would look to prosecute their mayor if he continued to “harbor and conceal” asylum seekers, according to Block Club Chicago.

Homan, who will not be subject to Senate confirmation in his new advisory role, said the Trump administration plans to prioritize deportations of undocumented individuals with criminal records but would eventually extend to others.

While he reiterated his intention to challenge Illinois' sanctuary laws, including the Illinois Trust Act and Chicago's "welcoming city" ordinance, both of which prevent local authorities from cooperating with federal immigration agents, Homan sidestepped questions about coordination with local law enforcement, Block Club reported.

Dismissing accusations of racism, Homan asserted that nearly nine of 10 asylum seekers do not qualify for asylum under the law and are coming to the U.S. for jobs rather than fleeing persecution, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Homan said there was no formal plan to separate families but such situations could occur for undocumented parents of U.S. citizens, warning, "if you put yourself in that position it’s on you," the Sun-Times reported.

“We know exactly who we’re going to arrest. We know most likely where we’re going to find them. We know a lot about them because of investigative case files,” he said. “So it’s not a sweep. It’s not an uncontrolled operation. It’s a very targeted operation.”

Pritzker's spokespeople said they expected to see "countless, baseless attacks" from the incoming administration over the next four years.

“Rather than responding to every ridiculous boast from Trump lackeys," it said, "Gov. Pritzker is focused on what he was focused on during the first Trump term: leading our state with competence instead of chaos."