Former CBP commissioner says deployment of elite Border Patrol units to sanctuary cities is a 'significant mistake'

The Trump administration is escalating its fight against so-called sanctuary cities.

The White House is set to deploy 100 tactical Border Patrol officers in 10 U.S. cities — New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston, Boston, New Orleans, Detroit, and Newark — between February and May to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, The New York Times reported Friday. Trump has clashed with those cities because local authorities often don't cooperate with Washington when it comes to handing over immigrants targeted for deportation.

Border Patrol usually operates at the border, airports, and ports of entry, while ICE conducts arrests throughout the rest of the country, but the latter agency has argued sanctuary cities and immigration advocacy groups have made their jobs too difficult. Acting ICE Director Matthew Albence said in a statement that sanctuary jurisdictions force his agents to "make at-large arrests of criminal aliens who have been released into communities" while also increasing "the occurrence of preventable crimes, and more importantly, preventable victims."

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But former Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske said sending Border Patrol agents, especially the elite BORTAC, into the cities to help ICE is a "significant mistake" because they aren't trained to work in those situations. "If you were a police chief and you were going to make an apprehension for a relatively minor offense, you don't send the SWAT team," he said. "And BORTAC is the SWAT team." Read more at The New York Times.