Stephen Miller and CNN’s Boris Sanchez sparred over Donald Trump’s attempts to bring in Texas’ National Guard troops into Portland – and whether the anti-ICE protestors qualify as domestic terrorists.
Over the weekend, a federal judge ruled that Trump could not mobilize the Lone Star State’s National Guard to deploy in Portland amid the president’s calls that the city is essentially a warzone. When Sanchez asked Miller about the decision, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff explained what ICE officers are facing from the protestors.
“It’s important to understand that in Portland, ICE officers have been subjected to over a hundred nights of terrorist assault, doxing, murder threats, violent attack, and every other means imaginable to try to overturn the results of the last election through violence,” Miller said. “Since Inauguration Day, there’s been an orchestrated campaign of terrorism and violence against ICE officers. Of course, we saw the recent sniper attack against ICE officers. They’re publishing their families’ photos online, they’re threatening them with murder, they’re threatening them with death, and they’re physically attacking them in the street each and every day. And yet, shamefully, the mayor and governor in Portland and Oregon have refused to render aid, leaving ICE officers to street fight every single night against these terrorists.”
Sanchez fired back saying “You make the claim of terrorist assaults, and violent attacks over a hundred nights, and yet the judge overseeing this case says that that’s untethered from reality.”
“No, they are actually, as we speak, trying to overthrow the core law enforcement function of the federal government,” Miller responded. “When ICE officers have to street battle against Antifa, hand-to-hand combat every night to come and go from their building. When they try to exit in a vehicle, when they are swarmed and surrounded, and they try to tip the vehicle over, when people bring weapons to an ICE facility to try to engage in direct violent assault against ICE officers, what is the purpose? It is to prevent Immigration and Customs Enforcement from carrying out the mission the American people elected them to do. Their objective is to make it impossible for ICE to carry out ICE enforcement.”
He added defiantly: “It’s absurd, it’s unconstitutional, and must be put down!”
Sanchez pointed out that the “local officials are fairly in control of the operation” if ICE was still operating in Portland and their facility had not been overrun. This triggered Miller into a long tirade about repriotization.
“Do you have any idea how much of ICE’s workforce and resources have had to be reprioritized? How much of the Joint Terrorism Task Force’s resources have been reprioritized to fight these domestic terrorists?” Miller said. “Do you have any idea how many resources are spent trying to hunt down and track each and every-”
Sanchez interrupted: “You keep calling them terrorists, but isn’t that hyperbolic to call them terrorists?”
“No, if anything, I’m understating the severity of the situation,” Miller fired back. “Do you have any idea how many resources we have had to re-designate to deal with the street terrorists!?”
Sanchez also asked about ICE’s growing presence in Chicago and comments Governor JB Pritzker made about the group racial profiling people whether they are in the country legally or not. Miller’s response was short.
“My full answer is no, that is a lie, and that is a dumb question,” he said.
