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EXCLUSIVE: After Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson put Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino on blast for his "Operation Midway Blitz" immigration raids in the Windy City, DHS hit back saying the Democrat should worry more about Chicagoans being maimed by illegal immigrant gangbangers and drug traffickers.
At his latest press conference, Johnson appeared to equate Bovino's behavior with terrorism, saying the North Carolina native is someone who "provokes terror on people," and condemned immigration enforcement raids and their spread on federal social media as akin to "grotesque" imagery of racist behavior like lynchings and anti-desegregation scenes from the 20th century.
"Mayor Brandon Johnson is once again demonizing ICE and CBP law enforcement are facing a more than 1,000% increase in assaults and 8,000% increase in death threats against them," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital when asked about Johnson's comments.
"Mayor Johnson has shown time and time again he does not care about the innocent American lives taken at the hands of gang members, murderers, drug traffickers, and rapists who have no right to be in this country," McLaughlin said.
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After a reporter joked about Bovino's "Operation Midway Blitz" team posing at Chicago's "Bean" sculpture - and another quipped that agents were saying "Little Village" instead of "cheese" while taking photos in the heavily Hispanic neighborhood - Johnson scoffed, saying the commander "should just go away."
"Here's someone who has provoked terror on people," Johnson said, before condemning the way Bovino comported himself as he left Illinois federal court swarmed by protesters screaming, "F--- you, Greg,", "F--- you, fascist," and calling him a "p---y."
Johnson also shared a photo of Bovino posing with agents at the "Bean" and called the picture "wicked and vile." DHS responded by sharing images of recently-arrested violent illegal immigrants and proverbially corrected the mayor, saying they should be the ones considered "wicked and vile."
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"I've seen a lot of bad behavior from human beings over the course of my study of just history," Johnson told reporters.
"Even when he was on his way into federal court, he paraded down the street and saluted individuals," he added, furrowing his brow.
"And then [DHS goes] on social media and put hip-hop music to their terror in Black and Brown communities. That's not even a dog whistle anymore. That's some real racist jacked-up stuff that he is engaged in."
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Johnson went on, claiming President Donald Trump is a "brittle man" and that Bovino is acting "under the direction of his king."
"This president has unleashed Bovino to unleash tear gas on police officers and babies. And then they have the temerity to take a picture in front of one of our public assets," he said of the "Bean" scene.
"There are horrific pictures that exist within America, in American society, graphic ones, from lynchings to Black children being prevented from entering into a public institution," Johnson said.
Former Arkansas Democratic Gov. Orval Faubus and ex-Alabama Democratic Gov. George Wallace both barricaded schoolhouses to prevent desegregation in the mid 20th century, leading Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy, respectively, to federalize the National Guard.
"What Bovino and the Border Patrol are executing right now have the same grotesque proclivity as those who have worked incredibly hard to dehumanize, historically, people who have been placed in the margins."
