Lyons described ICE agents as resilient but said the threats against them and their families have escalated in recent years.
"You know, the best thing about ICE is we're a resilient group," Lyons said. "There's some brave men and women, like I said earlier, that are very proud to do their job again. But unfortunately, they have to think of their families. That's why you see ICE agents masks."
"We've seen an uptick of violence. We're over a thousand percent increase the last year of violence and assault on ICE agents. But take the agent out of the equation. Your family being threatened, your kid's Instagram being posted somewhere or... you have elected officials calling for no rest for ICE agents or their families. That is what's wrong. It's the fiery rhetoric that are putting ICE agents and their families in the line of fire."
Lyons said he has personally experienced harassment, recalling, "In the last administration, I was doxed. I had an Antifa show up my house at three o'clock in the morning. No law enforcement agent doing their job needs that. And that's what needs to stop."
On the issue of deportations, Lyons emphasized that the majority of ICE arrests involve criminals. "More than 70 percent of the people we arrest have some type of criminal charge, whether pending or convicted," he explained. "These people may have been wanted from another country or have a significant criminal history that they're fleeing from their home country."
He criticized elected officials and activists for misrepresenting ICE’s mission. "When ICE is being painted as we're going out and just rounding up a worker or rounding up people trying to make a better life, people just don't educate themselves on that person and what ICE is actually doing to make America safe again."
Posobiec pressed on whether immigration fraud was being targeted more aggressively. Lyons confirmed, "It is. Under President Trump, under this administration, we've opened up the full immigration portfolio. You know, we're no longer doing law enforcement by just an executive order or kind of skewing the law to make it fit one side of the aisle. What we're doing is we're focused on everything."
"You have criminal aliens that are using US citizens' Social Security numbers, tax fraud, voting fraud. And that's why we're cracking down, too, on a lot of these American businesses. These American businesses are making money off the backs and the sweat of these people, but they're also encouraging human trafficking, sex trafficking, forced labor. So, we're holding those business owners accountable as well, because it's not just a victimless crime."
