The acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Friday slammed Gov. Jerry Brown's decision to sign a law making California a sanctuary for illegal immigrants — and threatened "at-large" arrests as a result.
In a statement, acting ICE director Tom Homan said the sanctuary status for those who've committed crimes "will undermine public safety and hinder ICE from performing its federally mandated mission."
"ICE will have no choice but to conduct at-large arrests in local neighborhoods and at worksites, which will inevitably result in additional collateral arrests, instead of focusing on arrests at jails and prisons where transfers are safer for ICE officers and the community," Homan declared.
"ICE will also likely have to detain individuals arrested in California in detention facilities outside of the state, far from any family they may have in California."
Brown signed the California Values Act on Thursday, which lawmakers approved last month, barring local governments from forcing illegal immigrants to spend extra time in jail so that immigration agents can pick them up for deportation.
It also prohibits police from asking about the immigration status of people during routine interactions.
But on Friday, Homan said the law will so "negatively impact" ICE's operations in California that ICE may incidentally arrest others who wouldn't have been targeted.
"Despite the severe challenges that this law creates for ICE, we remain committed to our public safety mission and we will continue to do our sworn duty to seek out dangerous criminal aliens and other immigration violators," Homan said in his statement.
"ICE seeks straightforward cooperation with all sheriffs and local elected officials. This misguided legislation will severely undermine those efforts."
A Department of Justice spokesman also has criticized the bill, saying it "codified a commitment to returning criminal aliens back onto our streets, which undermines public safety, national security and law enforcement."
Reuters contributed to this report.