Border czar Tom Homan on Friday huddled with a Rochester police union to offer “his unwavering support” after some local cops were ripped by the “sanctuary city’’ for helping Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at a traffic stop.
“I stand with the officers of the Rochester, New York Police Department that answered the emergency assistance call from the U.S Border Patrol,’’ Homan tweeted after the meeting.
“That is the way it should be. Law enforcement officers should not be abandoned in the time of need because of politics.
“Sanctuary policies endanger our police and the public. … Help is coming!” he vowed.
Homan’s comments came as a growing number of critics decried the upstate New York city’s “criminal-coddling’’ mayor and police chief — who publicly condemned the officers rushing to aid federal agents asking for emergency police assistance during a traffic stop Monday.
The cops responded to the scene, where an estimated eight people were in a van and were not immediately complying with the ICE workers.
The officers helped get the people in the van out and put them in cuffs.
It’s not clear why the van was being stopped.
But Democratic Mayor Malik Evans later chastised the cops, saying, “City police officers do not help or participate in federal immigration activities.”
Police Chief David Smith also admonished his Finest.
“From watching the body-worn camera footage, what is concerning to me is despite the fact that we were called, we went lights and sirens.
“We are not to be handcuffing subjects” in those circumstances, he said. “We are not to be doing pat frisks on subjects, and we are absolutely not going to be detaining them or putting them into our cars.”
The local cop union, the Rochester Police Locust Club, tweeted around 2:40 p.m. Friday that its president and lawyer had “just met privately’’ with Homan and that the border chief “offered his unwavering support and encouragement to the men and women of the [Rochester Police Department]!”
Homan could end up visiting Rochester to show just how much he supports what the cops did, according to a Spectrum TV tweet.
Neither the union nor the Rochester Police Department or Homan’s office responded to Post requests for comment Friday.
But local pols had plenty to say.
“It’s outrageous that the Rochester chief of police didn’t back up his cops. He should be replaced,” state Sen. George Borrello, a Republican whose 57th District borders Rochester and includes the Greater Rochester area, seethed to The Post.
“That’s something you expect from far-left politicians — not the chief of police,” Borrello charged.
“The cops did what they should have done. The sanctuary policies are part of the problem. These politicians have turned Rochester into a crime-ridden hellhole. They should be ashamed of themselves. “
State Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt claimed in a release Friday that Evans “issued a department-wide email reprimanding the RPD officers who assisted the HSI agents in distress [and] initiated an investigation into punishing these RPD officers.”
Calling the city’s leaders “criminal-coddling,” Ortt added in a statement, “For elected officials to condemn these brave men and women for upholding their oath in order to score political points is abhorrent and sets a dangerous precedent that could result in future injury or far worse.”
Kevin Leckinger, a rep for the police union, added, “This incident shines an unfortunate light on the creep of politics into the arena of law enforcement.
“Our members didn’t violate any law or policy, and aren’t driven by a political agenda.”
ICE only said, “On March 24, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, alongside our federal law enforcement partners, began conducting enhanced targeted operations in parts of New York, to enforce U.S. immigration law. We will provide additional information as it becomes available.”
Rochester’s sanctuary city resolution was adopted in 1986 and reaffirmed in 2017, according to WHAM. The Rochester Police Department is prohibited — under General Order 501 — from enforcing federal immigration laws.
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