SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman in San Francisco has resigned after becoming frustrated by Trump administration statements about a recent sweep targeting illegal immigration.
James Schwab told The Chronicle on Monday that officials, including U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, repeatedly said roughly 800 immigrants escaped arrest because Oakland Mayor Libby Schaff’s Feb. 24 warning about the four-day operation. Schwab understood the number to be lower and he didn’t want to deflect media questions about it.
Schwab says statements were misleading because the agency would never be able to capture everyone on the Northern California target list.
The mayor praised Schwab.
Sessions said he had learned that “ICE failed to make 800 arrests that they would have made if the mayor had not acted as she did.”