Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions Have Been Lying About Northern California ICE Raids and an ICE Spokesman Just Resigned Over It

Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions Have Been Lying About Northern California ICE Raids and an ICE Spokesman Just Resigned Over It
U.S. President Donald Trump (L) and Attorney General Jeff Sessions (R) attend a panel discussion on an opioid and drug abuse in the Roosevelt Room of the White House March 29, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty Images)

They went too far even for him.

James Schwab Jr. joined the Department of Homeland Security in 2015 to serve as a spokesperson for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Francisco. According to a 2016 profile by his hometown paper, Schwab loved his job. But now he's unemployed.

“I just couldn’t bear the burden — continuing on as a representative of the agency and charged with upholding integrity, knowing that information was false,” Schwab told CNN.


Schwab resigned over what he characterized as “false” and “misleading” statements. He singled out both Attorney General Jeff Sessions and ICE Acting Director Thomas D. Homan.
“I quit because I didn’t want to perpetuate misleading facts. I asked them to change the information. I told them that the information was wrong, they asked me to deflect, and I didn’t agree with that. Then I took some time and I quit.”

Schwab's resignation came about due to statements by Homan and Sessions. Both federal government officials claimed hundreds of “criminal aliens” evaded ICE in February because Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf warned them in advance. Schwab said he resisted that false characterization, but said ICE instructed him to “deflect” any media questions requesting facts.

President Donald Trump, ICE officials and Attorney General Jeff Sessions all criticized Democratic mayor Schaaf to the media for alerting immigrants about the raid. The raid netted 232 suspected undocumented immigrants.

 In an official statement, Trump's unconfirmed acting ICE director, Homan, stated  “864 criminal aliens and public safety threats remain at large in the community, and I have to believe that some of them were able to elude us thanks to the mayor’s irresponsible decision. Unlike the politicians who attempt to undermine ICE’s critical mission, our officers will continue to fulfill their sworn duty to protect public safety.”
 “Those are 800 wanted criminals that are now at large in that community," said AG Sessions in Sacramento last week. "800 wanted criminals that ICE will now have to pursue with more difficulty in more dangerous situations, all because of one mayor’s irresponsible action.”
 Schwab maintains both the number of potential arrests and blaming Oakland's Democratic mayor is inaccurate at best, outright lies at worst.
 “I didn’t feel like fabricating the truth to defend ourselves against her actions was the way to go about it," Schwab said. "We were never going to pick up that many people. To say that 100 percent are dangerous criminals on the street, or that those people weren’t picked up because of the misguided actions of the mayor, is just wrong.”

President Trump called Schaaf a "disgrace" during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Trump claimed ICE prepared to arrest “close to 1,000 people,” but only got “a fraction” of that thanks to the Democratic mayor of Oakland.
But Schwab said ICE never arrests 100 percent of their targets in any operation. The president, Sessions, and ICE officials' claims otherwise create a very misleading picture.
The missed arrests in the recent Northern California operation were far from unusual. The operation originally expected to arrest less than 232 suspected undocumented immigrants, making the outcome more successful than planned, not less like the Trump administration claims.

More from People/donald-trump

Herschel Walker
@USEmbassyNassau/X

A New Government Video Of Herschel Walker Warning About Jet Ski Rentals In The Bahamas Feels Straight Out Of 'SNL'

Herschel Walker, a former NFL player and University of Georgia football star whose public presence was so bad he managed to lose a 2022 Senate contest in Georgia to a Democrat, was rewarded for his loyalty to MAGA Republican President Donald Trump with an appointment as ambassador to the Bahamas in 2025.

Now Ambassador Walker has released a video message for American tourists in an X post that's giving the world a glimpse into why Georgia voters gave him a pass as their Senator. Walker had a habit on the campaign trail of blurting out non sequiturs that left people baffled or amused, and the poorly worded caption on his video is on par.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of JD Vance; Donald Trump
Fox News; Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

JD Vance Just Tried To Claim That Trump Is A 'Person Of Faith' While Hawking His New Book—And The Internet Is Calling BS

Vice President JD Vance had people rolling their eyes after he attempted to claim that President Donald Trump is a "person of faith" even if he "doesn't wear it on his sleeve."

Vance made the remark while promoting his new book about converting to Catholicism on Fox News on Monday, telling network personality Sean Hannity that his “spiritual side” differs from Trump “in many ways” even as they’ve maintained a “phenomenal” relationship.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Donald Trump speaking next to Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani
@TheBulwark/X

Trump Gets Epic Geography Lesson After Claiming You Could 'Walk Right Across The Border' From Qatar To Iran

President Donald Trump showed he doesn't know a thing about geography after claiming you could just "walk" from Qatar to Iran in remarks at the G7 summit in France this week.

That's not true, by the way: There is no land border between Qatar and Iran. The two nations are separated by the Persian Gulf at a distance of about 119 miles.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Trump Dragged After Past Tweet Comes Back To Bite Him Hard Following Iran Deal Announcement

President Donald Trump is facing criticism following his announcement of a so-called "deal" to end his war with Iran now that a tweet he wrote about Iran in 2020 has resurfaced.

A senior Trump administration official said Monday that the U.S. has proposed giving Iran access to a $300 billion reconstruction fund as part of a tentative agreement, which as of now is simply a "memorandum of understanding," between the two countries, set to be signed by both parties on Friday. This MOU defers the most contentious aspects of negotiation for a 60-day window to follow the signing.

Keep ReadingShow less
Rainn Wilson sparked debate with his comments about The Office and "cancel culture."
Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images; Courtesy of Fox News

Rainn Wilson Dragged After Claiming You Couldn't Make 'The Office' Today Because Of Leftist Cancel Culture

Just like his character on The Office, Rainn Wilson has flummoxed the internet with his take on whether the hit NBC sitcom would fit into today’s so-called “cancel culture.”

In an interview with Fox News, Wilson, 60, reflected on The Office, which premiered in 2005, starred Steve Carell, John Krasinski, and Jenna Fischer, and ran until 2013. The series was adapted from the British show of the same name and went on to become one of the most influential sitcoms of its era.

Keep ReadingShow less