Thomas Homan, acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, slammed critics of the Trump administration's stepped-up immigration enforcement, the Washington Examiner reported.
Homan told a House Appropriations Subcommittee his agents have been singled out and treated unfairly for carrying through with President Donald Trump's order to enhance immigration enforcement, according to the website.
"Unlike other agencies, we do this despite a constant deluge of biased attacks against ICE personnel by those who disagree with the laws we enforce," he said.
"While I recognize that people have the right to protest laws they don't agree with I want to emphasize to the public and to the media and to this committee that ICE officers don't write the laws. They enforce the laws.
"Too often that respect does not seem to extend to the honorable men and women of ICE. Unfortunately, the men and women of this law enforcement agency are vilified for simply doing their jobs."
During Trump's first 100 days in office, arrests of undocumented immigrants was up 38 percent from the same time frame in 2016, USA Today noted.
"We are all blessed to live in the greatest country on earth and I can't blame anybody who wants to live here," Homan told lawmakers.
And he added: "But we are also a country built on the foundation of the rule of law. Those who choose to enter this country illegally which is a crime, a federal crime, or to overstay their visa have knowingly chosen to break the law."
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