Trump's Border Czar Joins Kristi Noem in Blaming FBI For ICE Raid Leaks

The Donald Trump administration's border czar, Tom Homan, joined DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in pointing toward the FBI over leaks regarding upcoming "large scale" ICE immigration raids in Los Angeles.

"Some of the information we've been receiving tends to lead toward the FBI," Homan said in an interview with Fox News. "I've talked to the Deputy Attorney General this weekend, they've opened up a criminal investigation and promised this person will not only lose her job or pension, they will go to jail," the official added.

It is not the first such leak in the context of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. ICE postponed in late January a raid in Aurora, Colorado, after media reported about the operation, claiming it was putting agents' security at risk.

Homan said he is moving toward finding the person responsible for the latest leak and will make sure criminal charges are pressed. "We're sending a strong message. It's not just giving the bad guys a heads up so they can escape apprehension, giving gangs a heads up so we can't arrest them. You're also putting officers lives at risk. It's only a matter of time before we walk into a place where a bad guy doesn't care and ambush them," he said.

DHS Secretary Noem was also vocal in her criticism of the DBI, calling the agency "corrupt" and saying the department "will work with any and every agency to stop leaks and prosecute these crooked deep state agents to the fullest extent of the law."

The leaked document, obtained by the LA Times, detailed plans to conduct a "large scale" raid in Los Angeles by the end of February. The operation, led by ICE, was set to focus on undocumented immigrants with pending orders of removal. The outlet quoted an official saying the agency needed "more bodies."

A subsequent report by NewsNation detailed that President Trump is frustrated with the amount of arrests taking place, telling aides "the numbers are too f---ing low." ICE averaged 787 arrests a day in the last week of January, the outlet added.

Homan has also criticized the media for reporting on upcoming raids, particularly the one in Aurora. The border czar said the raid targeted the Venezuela-linked Tren de Aragua gang, but the leaks allowed some of them to escape.

More than 100 members of the gang were targeted Wednesday at apartment buildings and other sites in Denver and neighboring Aurora, The Associated Press reports. But it remains unclear how many of them were ultimately arrested.

"This isn't a game. We know that TDA is dangerous," Homan said Thursday in a statement to reporters outside the White House.

"Everybody can agree to that, but when they get a heads-up that we are coming, it's only a matter of time before our officers are ambushed," he added. "Their job is dangerous enough. So we are going to address this very seriously."