James Schwab Jr. joined the Department of Homeland Security in 2015 to serve as a spokesperson for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Francisco. According to a 2016 profile by his hometown paper, Schwab loved his job. But now he's unemployed.
“I just couldn’t bear the burden — continuing on as a representative of the agency and charged with upholding integrity, knowing that information was false,” Schwab told CNN.
"I told them that the information was wrong, they asked me to deflect, and I didn’t agree with that. Then I took so… https://t.co/gLLWCdxsOP— ProPublica (@ProPublica)1520946074.0
Schwab's resignation came about due to statements by Homan and Sessions. Both federal government officials claimed hundreds of “criminal aliens” evaded ICE in February because Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf warned them in advance. Schwab said he resisted that false characterization, but said ICE instructed him to “deflect” any media questions requesting facts.
President Donald Trump, ICE officials and Attorney General Jeff Sessions all criticized Democratic mayor Schaaf to the media for alerting immigrants about the raid. The raid netted 232 suspected undocumented immigrants.
An official (yes another one) resigns from the Trump Administration because he says he will not lie for them, as th… https://t.co/n5Aj7veGqI— Kurt Eichenwald (@Kurt Eichenwald)1520951265.0
So far today, the Secretary of State has been fired, Trump’s closest personal aide has been fired and the ICE spoke… https://t.co/n8t8YbTSG0— Christina Wilkie (@Christina Wilkie)1520949113.0
In the last 12 hours, Trump lost the Secretary of State, the spokesman for the ICE Field Office of San Francisco, a… https://t.co/i7XZQXbgcX— Matthew Chapman (@Matthew Chapman)1520947949.0