AOC Dares ICE's Tom Homan After New York Threats: "He Can't Carry Them Out"

Top Democrats in New York continue exchanging blows with border czar Tom Homan after he promised to "flood" the state with immigration enforcement agents as part of the Trump administration's effort to carry out what it has described as the largest deportation campaign in U.S. history.

In recent days, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul have both voiced opposition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in the state. Mamdani has reiterated his support for abolishing ICE, calling the agency "cruel" and emphasizing that the NYPD does not participate in civil immigration enforcement or work alongside ICE.

Hochul and state lawmakers have also pushed legislation aimed at protecting New York's immigrant population and limiting cooperation between local law enforcement agencies and ICE.

As Homan doubled down on his promise to flood New York streets with immigration officers, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined the push against ICE agents in an interview with NY1, pointing to the city's sanctuary policies and arguing that immigration authorities must still follow the law.

"Tom Homan has a long history of making threats he neither has the authority nor the ability to carry out," Ocasio-Cortez said. "The fact is New York City already has sanctuary laws in place that require anyone accused of a crime to go through our legal system. And if ICE wants to operate here, it has to do so using its own resources."

During a guest appearance on Fox News, Homan argued that efforts to reduce cooperation between ICE and local law enforcement hurt public safety by making it harder to arrest immigrants accused of crimes.

"Since we lost the efficiencies of the jails that you want to lock us out of, now we got to send a whole team out there to find this person. So, of course, we're going to increase manpower, a lot," Homan said.

Responding to Homan's comments, Ocasio-Cortez said New York City's sanctuary laws clearly define what authorities are allowed to do and that everyone is expected to follow them.

"And the law doesn't change if you threaten it. The law doesn't change if you stomp your feet about it. We all have to respect it," Ocasio-Cortez added.

Despite Homan's threats, New York has now passed laws prohibiting state and local officials from entering formal or informal cooperation agreements with ICE. The measures also bar ICE agents from wearing masks and prohibit the agency from using local jails to house detainees or searching homes, hospitals, churches and schools without a warrant signed by a judge, The New York Times reported.

Hochul said the changes were necessary because of what she described as ICE's continued use of intimidation tactics that put New Yorkers at risk as well as a response to the scale of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.

"They didn't just target hardened criminals and gang members, which I would have supported — we did support," Hochul said. "They also targeted mothers still nursing their infants, separating them; an 85-year-old widow in her nightgown."