California mayor who warned city of ICE raid doesn’t regret it: ‘I did the right thing’

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf (D) isn't sorry that she warned the California city of an impending raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in February.

In fact, she still thinks it was absolutely the right thing to do in that circumstance.

What did she say?

In an interview with Buzzfeed News, Schaaf discussed her decision to publicly share information about an impending ICE raid.

Schaaf revealed that the agency was "preparing to conduct an operation in the Bay Area, including Oakland."

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— Libby Schaaf (@LibbySchaaf) February 25, 2018

According to then-acting ICE Director Thomas Homan, Schaff's move caused several hundred illegal immigrants to remain at large within the community.

"What she did is no better than a gang lookout yelling 'Police!' when a police cruiser comes in the neighborhood, except she did it to a whole community," Homan said.

"There's over 800 significant public safety threat criminals," Homan added, "... that we are unable to locate because of that warning, so that community's a lot less safe than it would have been."

During her interview with Buzzfeed, which was published Tuesday, Schaaf said, "I have no regrets. None."

"The more time goes by, the more certain I feel that I did the right thing in standing up for our community and pointing out our values are not aligned with our laws," she added. "That's hopefully the message that is sent out."

Schaaf also criticized ICE and suggested that it should be dismantled entirely.

"This agency has gone astray and has so broken the trust, particularly in cities like mine," she commented. "I believe we would all be better served to start from scratch."

Anything else?

Schaaf's move prompted President Donald Trump to push former Attorney General Jeff Sessions to prosecute Schaaf over the move.

"You talk about obstruction of justice, I would recommend you look into obstruction of justice for the mayor of Oakland, California, Jeff," Trump said.

In May, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) introduced the Mayor Libby Schaaf Act of 2018, which called for up to five years' imprisonment for government officials who obstruct the enforcement of federal laws.

"I want lawless, sanctuary city politicians to hear this message clearly: If you obstruct ICE, you are going to end up in the cooler," King said in a statement."

"Sanctuary politicians are placing the lives of citizens and law enforcement officers in jeopardy by giving illegal aliens warnings about impending ICE actions in local jurisdictions," King's statement added. "This is obstruction of justice, and Americans do not have to put up with it."