After Arizona state Senator Analise Ortiz (left), a Democrat, admitted on social media to alerting her community about ICE movements, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin (right) claimed in a statement to Fox News Digital that the lawmaker is choosing illegal criminals over American citizens. (Arizona State Legislature official website and Reuters and DHS)
In response to Fox News Digital’s question about whether Ortiz could face charges, McLaughlin answered, "This certainly looks like obstruction of justice."
She pointed to DHS statistics that ICE officers are currently facing an 830 percent increase in assaults.
"The men and women of ICE put their lives on the line every day to arrest violent criminal illegal aliens to protect and defend the lives of American citizens," said McLaughlin. "Make no mistake, sanctuary politicians like Arizona Senator Analise Ortiz are contributing to the surge in assaults of our ICE officers through their repeated vilification and demonization of ICE."
This comes after popular conservative social media page "Libs of TikTok" blasted Ortiz for posting alerts on her account giving updates on ICE operations in the area. Libs of TikTok posted a screenshot, indicating it belonged to Ortiz, that warned in English and Spanish, "ICE is present." The post also gave the location of the federal officials’ whereabouts.
The Arizona state Capitol in Phoenix on Friday, Sept. 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
Petersen said he had referred the matter to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona for investigation "as it appears she may be in violation of federal law."
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Ortiz has remained defiant, writing in an X post, "I will not be intimidated. I will alert our community to avoid the area when Trump’s masked thugs terrorize us all, regardless of citizenship. Trump doesn’t respect our laws nor our constitution. My duty is to keep people safe from his unconstitutional and authoritarian actions."
Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ice-raid-tipoffs-from-dem-lawmaker-could-mean-charges-says-dhs-rep-looks-like-obstruction