Outgoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) chief Thomas Homan showed up at a House Homeland Security subcommittee hearing yesterday where they were discussing border issues. (Homan announced earlier this month that he will be retiring later this year.) While he was there, one Democrat from California, Nanette Barragan, took the opportunity to get some camera time and gin up the base by scolding Homan and his agency for their “racist and anti-immigrant” actions. As the Washington Examiner reports, this was a move that backfired in a serious way.

Rather than meekly sitting there while his agency was trash-talked, Homan requested permission to respond to the congresswoman and seriously let her have it. The key takeaway here is that he repeatedly points out to her that the laws his agency is enforcing are the ones that Congress (including Barrigan) passed and continue to leave on the books. (Emphasis added)

“We love to talk about this issue of MS-13 gangs. We love to paint immigrants as criminals. That is not the complete facts and that is very offensive for me to see continuing to happen,” Rep. Nanette Barragan, D-Calif., said during a House Homeland Security subcommittee hearing on border and maritime issues.

“It makes me sick to my stomach to keep hearing over and over again, painting the broad stroke and the picture as though these are folks who are coming here to do harm,” Barragan said.

Homan, who was not questioned following her remarks, asked for a chance to respond to Barragan’s initial statement.

“First of all, no one on this panel is anti-immigrant. We’re law enforcement officers enforcing the laws that you all enacted. So to sit there and say that we’re anti-immigrant is wrong. We are enforcing laws,” said Homan, acting ICE director. “If you think it’s OK to enter this country illegally — you shouldn’t be arrested, that’s just wrong. The laws clearly state, ‘You enter here illegally, it is a crime.'”

Homan goes on to repeat that key point, saying “I have to enforce the law and uphold the oath I took to enact the laws enacted by you in Congress.”

Here’s the video. It’s a priceless moment and much better to hear from Homan himself. Homan comes in at the end if you want to skip ahead a bit.

In the end, what Homan is saying is the reality which so many who support sanctuary policies stubbornly refuse to accept or even talk about. We have politicians out there campaigning on a platform to “fight back” against ICE (when they should be more worried about fighting ISIS) or, in some cases, to abolish the agency entirely. But what they are doing is enforcing the law. It’s their job. If you really don’t want illegal aliens to be detained and deported, run on a platform of abolishing our immigration laws and opening the borders.

If fact, that’s a great idea. Let’s make that part of the Democratic platform this year and in 2020. See how far it gets you. Yet again I’m reminded of that all too common theme I see on social media every day. That’s how you got Trump. This is how you’ll get more Trump.