ICE is coming for sanctuary cities

Border Czar Tom Homan threw down a welcome warning to illegal-immigrant thugs — and a lifeline to beleaguered New Yorkers: ICE is coming, and it’s going to “flood the zone.” 

That’s good news: New York City’s crazy “sanctuary” laws let illegal immigrant criminals hide in plain sight.

“Sanctuary cities are now our priority,” Homan announced, after an off-duty border cop was almost killed by two suspected illegal-immigrant criminals. “Sanctuary cities are unsafe cities.”

Indeed, lefty activists who fight ICE agents and back local sanctuary laws share much of the blame for the violence their darling migrants commit. 

In fact, it’s precisely those laws that force to Homan to send more agents than he otherwise would.

That’s because the laws ban ICE from prisons and jails, where illegal immigrants can be handed over to ICE, forcing agents to pursue them on the streets.

That’s a lot more dangerous — and requires more agents to find and haul them in safely.

“If we can’t arrest a bad guy in the safety and security of a jail,” notes Homan, “we’ll arrest them in the community.”

The irony’s unmistakable: “Sanctuary cities get exactly what they don’t want — more agents in their community,” he says.

ICE used to have an office on Rikers, and when a dangerous illegal migrant came through the jail system, ICE would ask the NYPD or Corrections to detain him for deportation. 

That ended over a decade ago: ICE was booted off Rikers by lefty loons in the City Council and then-Mayor Bill de Blasio. 

Per Homeland Security, Team Trump sent 6,000 ICE detainers to NYC — and the city ignored nearly all of them.

If the City Council wants to limit ICE’s presence in New York, it should let the NYPD and Corrections communicate directly with ICE and the agency’s officers return Rikers.

But don’t hold your breath waiting for that.