CNN host Kasie Hunt was left visibly shocked after listening to incoming border czar Tom Homan say he would put Denver Mayor Mike Johnston in jail if he didn't cooperate with Donald Trump's mass deportation plan.
In an appearance last Monday with Fox News' Sean Hannity, Homan said: 'Me and the Denver mayor, we agree on one thing; he's willing to go to jail. I'm willing to put him in jail.'
Hunt played this soundbite on her show Wednesday and had a visceral reaction before insisting that Homan's rhetoric was 'more extreme' than what had been said by the Trump campaign in the lead up to Election Day.
'That has some significant and more extreme echoes than some of what we heard from the Trump campaign on the trail,' Hunt said.
Johnston has said Denver police will not participate in immigration enforcement and maintains that illegal immigrants who commit low-level crimes will not be turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency Homan served under during terms of President Barack Obama and Trump.
In response to Homan's threat to arrest mayors of so-called sanctuary cities, Johnston said he is 'not afraid' of being jailed.
Soon, Homan will become the president-elect's right-hand man in overseeing Trump's promise of the 'largest deportation program in American history.'
'Let me be clear, there is going to be a mass deportation because we just finished a mass illegal immigration crisis on the border,' Homan said last week. 'It's a felony to knowingly harbor concealed illegal anti-immigration authorities. The nation wants a safe country.'
Kasie Hunt, pictured, was visibly stunned that incoming border czar Tom Homan threatened Denver Mayor Mike Johnston with jail
Homan said last week that he and Johnston 'agree on one thing - he's willing to go to jail. I'm willing to put him in jail'
Hunt also played a clip of Johnston arguing that Trump's deportation plan in practice will be unpopular.
'If they are going to send the US Army or the Navy Seals into Denver to pursue folks, to pull them off the job at hotels or restaurants where they're working or pull kids off the soccer field, I think we will see Denverites and folks around the country who will nonviolently resist that,' Johnston said.
After the election sweep for Republicans, Trump and Homan have said they are willing to use the military to deport illegal migrants, with Trump hinting he may declare a national emergency.
Hunt asked ex-Trump White House communications director Mike Dubke what he thought of Trump and Homan's rhetoric - specifically the threats of arresting mayors.
'Tom Homan’s very strong language is going to restrict and impede the number of people that are actually flooding the border,' Dubke said.
'You’re saying it‘s going to discourage people from trying to come?' Hunt followed up.
'Totally discourage that,' the former Trump aide replied. 'That is super important and that is something we saw — when the Biden administration came in, there was a flood for a reason. The rhetoric was toned down.'
The governors of Illinois, Massachusetts and Arizona - a state Trump won back in 2024 - have all said they won't assist in Trump's deportation efforts.
Homan has said he's willing to use the US Army to carry out the mass deportation of illegal migrants throughout the country
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston defended his city's stance on illegal migrants even as it has been revealed he has spent $356 million in taxpayer money for their healthcare, schooling and more
However, Johnston has emerged as one of the main voices in opposition to Homan's objectives.
It was revealed last week in a new study that Denver has spent a staggering $356 million of taxpayer money on migrants in the city, amid growing resentment from residents who say the migrant crisis has crippled the city.
The figure was revealed by the Common Sense Institute (CSI), finding that Johnston has spent the equivalent of $7,900 per migrant in his city.
Denver's sanctuary city status has come under scrutiny amid the huge influx of migrants, which the CSI estimates has seen around 45,000 migrants arrive in the Colorado city since December 2022.
Despite Johnston's insistence that he will stand in the way of deportations, he has already been forced to take drastic measures this year to grapple with the issue, including slashing $30 million in public services and contingency funds from taxpayer coffers.
