Former ICE Chief Rips Cuomo For Attacking Sheriffs: ‘If Anybody Is a Dictator It’s Him’

Former Acting Director of ICE, Tom Homan, slammed Cuomo for ‘vilifying’ sheriffs: “If anyone is a dictator, it’s him.”

RUSH TRANSCRIPT:

SMITH: “Governor Andrew Cuomo here in New York does not agree with you. Listen.”

CUOMO: “How a law enforcement officer says, ‘I choose not to enforce that law,’ I believe that law enforcement officer violates his or her constitutional duty. That’s not a law enforcement officer. That’s a dictator. So you are not a law enforcement officer. You can’t pick and choose. And if that’s the way you run your law enforcement agency, I don’t consider it a law enforcement agency.

SMITH: “If these sheriffs don’t abide, many of them who have said that, Tom, could they be held responsible then by governors like Andrew Cuomo?”

HOMAN: “First of all, let’s be clear. Governor Cuomo is stating misfacts here, he’s lying to his people. There is no law. No law was enacted by his state legislature. If anybody is a dictator, it’s him by pushing down this executive order without any input. And second of all, I say this. I’ll say the same thing to Governor Cuomo that I said to Rep. Jayapal during my last hearing. I pay a lot of taxes in New York and I have property in New York. He works for me. He works for the New York state taxpayers. He is accountable to us, not the other way around. We aren’t accountable to him. So to him to vilify law enforcement for protecting the First Amendment rights for New York State residents is abhorrent. It is insulting that a governor would say that.” cuomo dictator

SMITH: “Let’s pick apart some of the restrictions though. Because the quarantine restrictions that he has put in place for his state, which are very strict, much stricter for any other state for quite some time, that was issued by executive order.”

HOMAN: “Yeah, I get that. But the state legislature has not enacted any laws in the state of New York. Look, the problem is it’s inconsistent across the country. New York State, Governor Cuomo has bee villifying law enforcement for years. It isn’t just this Covid thing that now he attacks law enforcement. He has been attacking ICE officers, he’s compared them to gangsters on the street. He won’t allow law enforcement officers in New York to work with ICE. Him, along with the mayor of New York City De Blasio, has knocked ICE out of the Riker’s Island jail which released gang members and significant criminals every day. So let’s not get things mixed up with Governor Cuomo. He has been against law enforcement from day one, he’s been villifying them for a couple of years. This is just his latest argument and why law enforcement is less than they used to be.”

SMITH: “As we listen to what you are saying and take that in and heard what the governor has to say and other democratic governors across the country who have tough restrictions on their people, you see and you say that you believe the CD.C. and science and says to wear a mask, social distance. If that isn’t going on and that certainly isn’t going on in some areas of the country. We don’t like to think so but it is. Should something be done at a local or state level to help enforce some of the things that we know significantly slow or stop the spread of this virus? Should anything be done to enforce that?” cuomo dictator

HOMAN: “Maybe a state official can enforce it. What he is asking someone to do, he is asking local law enforcement to enforce something that isn’t a law. If he wants to send down an executive order, you can’t tell local law enforcement enforce a law that hasn’t been enacted by any state legislature and attack law abiding citizens and their First Amendment rights at the same time telling them you aren’t allowed to arrest protestors or help ice. You can’t have it both ways.”

SMITH: “There was a large Jewish wedding thousands of people. He is warning legal action against this. A lot of these states are facing it now as we all try to do the right thing and people have different ways of doing it. Great to have you on this morning. Did you have a final thought?”

HOMAN: “No, I think at some point we need to trust the American people to do the right thing. The American people know Covid-19 I’m not belittling it. It is a significant issue we’re dealing with. Hundreds of thousands have died and it is serious. At some point you have to let the American people take control of their lives. Most citizens will do the right thing. For those that don’t we’ll hold them accountable. You can’t violate their first Amendment rights, too. While protecting the first Amendment rights of people out there committing crimes. It is just not the way this country is supposed to be.” cuomo dictator