ICE v. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf battle heats up

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- "ICE is trying to distract people from their racist messages," said Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, firing her latest salvo at federal immigration officials.

It's a full-blown war of words between Schaaf and top officials at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

RELATED:Hundreds protest outside ICE building in San Francisco

"We have to take this moment to fight back against the racist myth the Trump Administration is trying to perpetuate that immigrants are dangerous criminals," said Schaaf.

This morning acting ICE director Tom Homan, appearing on the FoxNews program Fox & Friends chastised Schaaf's warning Saturday night about imminent raids in her city and the greater Bay Area.

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

RELATED: More than 150 ICE arrests confirmed across NorCal

ICE reported 150 arrests in various raids throughout Northern California.

The agency claims fully 50 percent of those arrested were of people with criminal records, separate from immigration violations.

"ICE has a track record of lying to us," said Oakland City Council member Rebecca Kaplan, who was initially critical of Schaaf's issuing of a broad public warning. Now Kaplan believes its important for the sanctuary city to stand united.

"I believe in this moment, it is essential that we all stand together and make it clear that we know ICE is not keeping us safe," said Kaplan.

RELATED: ICE says arrest operations will continue

ICE claims Mayor Schaaf's "irresponsible decision" may have played a role in the agency's failure to capture more than 800 individuals in the Bay Area, people ICE describes as criminals.

"We have a criminal justice system," said Schaaf. "We should let that work."

ICE interim director Homan claims the Justice Department is looking into whether Schaaf's warning broke the law.

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