The mayors of “sanctuary cities” recently reaffirmed their support for illegal immigration in a contentious congressional hearing. Testifying before the U.S. House Oversight Committee this week, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu (D) refused to commit to handing illegal immigrants detained for violent crimes over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) asked Johnson, “Would you turn this criminal over to ICE on a detainer?” The Chicago mayor replied that the city’s law enforcement “works hard every day to get criminals off the streets of Chicago,” but did not commit to cooperating with ICE.

“Would you turn that criminal over to ICE?” Comer asked again. He continued, “That’s one of the problems we’ve heard from Tom Homan and from the Homeland Security, is that in your cities, when somebody’s apprehended for a crime and ICE is … wanting to come in and deport the criminal alien, that you will not cooperate with ICE.” He asked again, “Will you turn that criminal over to ICE?”

Johnson refused to answer, simply repeating his claim that Chicago law enforcement tries to keep “criminals off the streets.” Even when pressed for a direct “Yes” or “No” answer, Johnson replied, “We do not harbor criminals.” Eventually, he admitted that Chicago law enforcement would have no choice but to cooperate with ICE if the immigration agency had a “criminal warrant.” He said, “With a criminal warrant, they are subject to the federal laws, and that includes deportation.”

Comer asked Wu the same question. “Last year, in a Boston suburb, an illegal alien raped and impregnated his 14-year-old daughter while living in a shelter for illegal aliens,” the congressman recounted. He asked, “Mayor Wu, under Boston law, would you turn this criminal over to ICE on a detainer?”

“Whenever there’s a criminal warrant, Boston police enforce that and hold them accountable,” the mayor responded. Comer asked again, “So would you turn that criminal over to ICE?” Wu again refused to answer, insisting that Boston would be legally obligated to cooperate if ICE had a warrant. “If ICE deems them dangerous enough to hold, obtain a criminal warrant, then Boston police will enforce it,” she said. Comer quipped, “I take that as a ‘no.’”

The “sanctuary city” debate occurred as U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem reported that New York City is refusing to honor an ICE detainer on an illegal immigrant who was charged with setting a woman on fire on the subway. “ICE lodged an immigration detainer with the NYC Department of Corrections to take this depraved alien into custody. Because of current sanctuary city policy, the corrections department has indicated it will NOT honor the detainer,” Noem shared in a social media post. She added, “This is disgusting. New York politicians are allowing the murder of their own citizens.”

Last year, Sebastian Zapeta-Calil set a sleeping woman on fire on the New York City subway. He has been charged with murder in the first and second degree and arson. Zapeta-Calil is originally from Guatemala and was previously deported in 2018, during the first administration of President Donald Trump. He was allowed back into the country under then-president Joe Biden. Border czar Toma Homan has previously lambasted “sanctuary cities” and their policies for posing a threat both to ICE agents attempting to carry out deportations and to the general public.

In a recent speech, Homan also specifically called out Chicago and Boston as being particularly difficult “sanctuary cities.” The border czar promised to rid Boston of illegal immigrants, announcing, “I’m coming to Boston and I’m bringing hell with me.” He reported that he had found at least nine child predators in Massachusetts who were illegal immigrants but who local law enforcement would not hand over to ICE. “But rather than honoring an ICE detainer, [Boston] released them back into the street,” he said. Homan also criticized Chicago, where mass deportation raids planned for January 21 had to be postponed after details of the raid were leaked.

Homan and Noem have both pledged to identify and penalize those responsible for the ICE leaks. While Noem initially announced that those behind the leaks would be “fired,” she announced Wednesday that she will pursue prosecutions. “I’m going to prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law, and I’m going to make an example out of them,” the DHS secretary insisted in an interview.

She continued, “I can’t do anything without it getting leaked, and that’s why we have to have so many ops all over the country all the time so that it doesn’t slow us down.” Noem also threatened, “These leakers — boy! — they better watch out because we are putting just as equal effort into identifying them as we are these criminals that are out there raping and murdering people.” She added, “As far as I’m concerned, these leakers are more dangerous because it’s a complete disregard for our law enforcement officers that are out there.”