President Donald Trump’s administration has made it clear that governors and mayors standing in the way of deportations will suffer consequences — and one Democrat might put that claim to the test. At a “Blue Wave New Jersey” event on Saturday, Governor Phil Murphy (D) bragged about housing an illegal immigrant and even taunted the Trump administration. “There is someone in our broader universe whose immigration status is not yet at the point that they are trying to get it to, and we said, ‘You know what? Let’s have her live at our house above our garage,’” the Garden State Democrat said. He added, “And good luck to the feds coming in to try to get her.”

Although a spokesman for Murphy insisted that the governor does not, in fact, have an illegal immigrant living in his house, border czar and former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) chief Tom Homan pledged to investigate the matter and prosecute Murphy if he had broken the law. “I think the governor is pretty foolish saying what he said, because I got note of it, won’t let it go, we’ll look into it,” Homan said Monday night in response to Murphy’s comments. He continued that if the New Jersey governor is “knowingly harboring and concealing an illegal alien, that’s a violation of Title 8 of the United States Code 1324.” Homan vowed, “I will seek prosecution — or the Secretary [of Homeland Security] will seek prosecution. So, maybe he’s bluffing. If he’s not, we’ll deal with that.”

Homan has previously warned governors, mayors, and other local officials not to interfere with deportations. When Denver Mayor Mike Johnston (D) encouraged Coloradans to protest ICE operations last year, Homan threatened to “put him in jail.” He told Democrats opposed to deportations that they don’t necessarily have to “help,” but cautioned, “That’s fine. You should get the hell out of the way. We’re going to do the job.” He added, “You can not help, but don’t impede us and don’t knowingly harbor and conceal an illegal alien from ICE, because that is a felony.”

In an interview last week, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem issued a similar warning. “Nobody’s above the law,” she said, referring to “sanctuary cities” protecting illegal immigrants. “The reality is, these sanctuary cities, their laws have caused us problems. They are limiting some of our tools that we want in our toolbox, but we’re going to continue to go in and use our operations and then show in other cities how it’s working,” Noem continued. She added, “The people in their community need to hear how their mayors, their elected officials, are protecting the criminals.”

National Border Patrol Union president Paul Perez called it “very, very foolish” of Murphy to challenge the Trump administration on Saturday. “It’s foolish for anybody to dare the Trump administration to do anything. Trump is a very, very strong leader, he’s got the right people in place, and I believe that if the governor’s going to play these games he’s putting somebody in harm’s way, he’s protecting somebody that’s here illegally,” Perez said. He quipped that Murphy is “begging” to be criminally charged by the Trump administration.

Experts from the Heritage Foundation explained that Murphy actually could face criminal charges, according to The Daily Signal. Senior legal fellow Hans Von Spakovsky explained that U.S. law “makes it a federal crime for anyone — and that would apply to the governor, just like any other private individual — to ‘conceal, harbor, or shield’ an illegal alien.” He added that Murphy “could be indicted by a federal grand jury and charged if he is harboring an illegal alien at his home.” The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “could go in and detain that illegal alien who is hiding in his home,” Von Spakovsky averred.

“Any person who knowingly ‘conceals, harbors, or shields’ an illegal alien is liable for a fine or prison sentence if convicted,” explained Simon Hankinson, a senior research fellow in the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center. “There isn’t an exception for state politicians or because you really like the harbored alien,” he said, referring to Murphy. Hankinson continued, “If he really has their best interest at heart, it seems silly of him to rat this person out by telling the world about it in a YouTube interview. He’s gone beyond virtue-signaling to waving the red flag to a bull.”