LOS ANGELES _ The White House on Thursday said the Department of Justice was reviewing the actions of Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, who last weekend alerted residents in advance of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid in Northern California.
"I think it's outrageous that a mayor would circumvent federal authorities and certainly put them in danger by making a move such as that," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters.
She said Schaaf's actions were under "review" but would not be more specific.
Justin Berton, a spokesman for Schaaf, said the mayor's office is unaware of any review and declined to comment further. A Justice Department spokesman in the Bay Area also declined to comment.
Schaaf has defended her statement, saying she felt it was her duty to warn residents of the ICE action.
Oakland, like many California cities, has declared itself a sanctuary for those here illegally, and officials there have vowed to fight President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.
She has won praise from other officials in California. But the Trump administration has rebuked her.
"The Oakland mayor's decision to publicize her suspicions about ICE operations further increased that risk for my officers and alerted criminal aliens _ making clear that this reckless decision was based on her political agenda with the very federal laws that ICE is sworn to uphold," ICE's acting director, Thomas D. Homan, said in a statement Tuesday.
Speaking on "Fox and Friends," Homan added that the mayor's warning helped an estimated 800 "criminal aliens" avoid capture. He also said federal authorities were examining her actions.
"What she did is no better than a gang lookout yelling 'police' when a police cruiser comes in the neighborhood, except she did it to a whole community. This is beyond the pale," he said.
In ICE's three-day sweep, agents arrested more than 150 people suspected of violating immigration laws, the agency said in the statement that criticized Schaaf.
About half of those arrested have criminal convictions, the agency said.
Homan said 864 immigrants with criminal histories are still at large despite the raids that led to arrests in cities including Stockton, Sacramento, San Francisco and Bay Point. He blamed Schaaf in part.
"I have to believe that some of them were able to elude us thanks to the mayor's irresponsible decision," Homan said.
Schaaf and her supporters say she did the right thing.
"My statement on Saturday was meant to give all residents time to learn their rights and know their legal options," Schaaf said Tuesday in a statement. "It was my intention that one mother, or one father, would use the information to help keep their family together.
"I do not regret sharing this information. It is Oakland's legal right to be a sanctuary city and we have not broken any laws. We believe our community is safer when families stay together," she stated.
Among those at large are Oakland residents with multiple prior removals, said James Schwab, a spokesman for ICE in San Francisco, a field office that spans 49 counties from Bakersfield to the Oregon border. They include someone convicted of carrying a loaded firearm and selling drugs, and one suspected of transporting cocaine and having sex with a minor, he said.
Immigration detainers lodged against them have been "repeatedly ignored," Schwab said. "Instead they have been released back into the community to potentially reoffend."
In fiscal year 2017, ICE arrested 20,201 people across the state, Schwab said. Of those, he said, 81 percent had criminal convictions.
