CNN host Kasie Hunt was taken aback after hearing Tom Homan, the nominee for President-elect Trump’s Border Czar position, declare that he would be willing to imprison Democratic Denver Mayor Mike Johnston for his refusal to comply with the second Trump administration’s deportation plans.

The exchange took place on Wednesday morning’s broadcast of CNN This Morning, where Hunt, visibly disturbed, responded to Homan’s bold statement.

After playing a clip of Homan’s remarks, in which he made it clear that he would hold Mayor Johnston accountable for defying federal immigration laws, Hunt described his rhetoric as “more extreme” than some of the language heard during Trump’s 2020 campaign.

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Hunt remarked, “That has some significant and more extreme echoes than some of what we heard from the Trump campaign on the trail.”

She then turned to the panel, which included former Trump White House communications director Mike Dubke and Democratic strategist Hyma Moore, to discuss the implications of Homan’s statements.

The controversy began when Mayor Johnston, in a recent interview with 9News, made it clear that he was willing to face arrest rather than comply with any deportation efforts that he deemed “illegal or immoral.”

Johnston expressed his belief in negotiating with reasonable people to address the challenges of illegal immigration, but also acknowledged that he supported deportations for individuals convicted of serious crimes.

 

“I’m not afraid of that, and I’m also not seeking that,” Johnston said when asked whether he would be willing to face jail time. “The goal is we want to be able to negotiate with reasonable people how to solve hard problems.”

Homan, a former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), did not hesitate to respond to the mayor’s defiance.

In an interview on Fox News Channel with Sean Hannity, Homan stated that Johnston’s stance was illegal, asserting that he was “breaking the law” and referencing the Supreme Court case Arizona v. U.S., which supports the enforcement of federal immigration law.

Homan did not stop there, adding, “But, look, me and the Denver mayor, we agree on one thing. He’s willing to go to jail, I’m willing to put him in jail.”

Hunt, upon hearing Homan’s words, exhaled audibly and appeared stunned by the implication of his statement.

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She turned to Mike Dubke, asking him to comment on Homan’s language. Dubke, a former communications director for the Trump administration, explained that strong rhetoric on immigration had been an effective tool during Trump’s first term.

According to Dubke, such language had proven successful in deterring illegal immigration, particularly in the early days of the Trump administration.

“There are several stages to kind of arresting — and I should choose a different word — but arresting immigration at the border, one of which that worked incredibly well in the early days of the first Trump Administration was the rhetoric… So Tom Homan’s very strong language is going to restrict and impede the number of people that are actually flooding the border,” Dubke said.

When Hunt pressed him further, asking if the rhetoric would discourage people from attempting to cross the border, Dubke confirmed, “Totally discourage that. That is super important and that is something we saw — when the Biden administration came in, there was a flood for a reason. The rhetoric was toned down.”

The clash between Homan’s hardline stance and Mayor Johnston’s resistance highlights the ongoing tension surrounding immigration policy as President-elect Trump prepares to take office.

With the new administration on the horizon, debates over deportations, sanctuary city policies, and the balance of power between local and federal authorities are likely to intensify.

Homan’s threat to jail a defiant mayor sets the stage for a high-stakes battle over immigration enforcement and the future of sanctuary cities in the United States.

While the Trump administration’s approach to immigration has garnered strong support from many conservatives, it remains a deeply divisive issue in the nation’s politics.

As Homan and Johnston’s dispute exemplifies, the 2024 election has left the country bracing for an aggressive shift in how the United States handles illegal immigration.