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Acting ICE director fires back at Boston mayor for neo-Nazi comparison: 'Completely disgusting'

Acting ICE director Todd Lyons joins 'Fox & Friends' to discuss his response to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu's anti-ICE rhetoric and how the federal agency was able to set a new daily arrest record. 

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Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Todd Lyons slammed Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on "Fox & Friends" on Friday for their "disgusting" rhetoric about the department, which he felt put him and his agents in danger.

Wu compared ICE agents wearing masks to members of the neo-Nazi group the Nationalist Social Club-131 (NSC-131) during a press conference on Wednesday, amid government claims that ICE agents have faced a 413% increase in assaults.

"I don't know of any police department that routinely wears masks," Wu said on Wednesday."NSC-131 routinely wears masks." When someone asked Wu whether she was comparing ICE to a neo-Nazi group, the mayor replied, "What I said is that Boston police, and no police department that I know of at the local level, routinely wears masks."

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Lyons called Wu's comments comparing ICE agents to a neo-Nazi group "completely disgusting" and argued that her rhetoric is putting his agents' lives in danger. ((Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)(Photo By Matt Stone/Boston Herald))

Jeffries declared on Tuesday that all ICE agents who perpetrate "aggressive overreach" and attempt to conceal "their identities from the American people, will be unsuccessful in doing that." They will all be identified "no matter what it takes, no matter how long it takes," he asserted, saying that is what the law requires.

Lyons expressed his outrage over Wu and Jeffries' "disgusting" comments to Fox News' Lawrence B. Jones.

"I used to say I was pretty disheartened by the political rhetoric, but I've totally changed to it's outright disgusting," he asserted. "What Mayor Wu said is completely disgusting. She actually compared us to a neo-Nazi group. And here I am on [June] 6 where many of the men of ICE —brave men and women that were veterans — on the great day in military history when we defeated the Germans and the Nazi Party, we have elected officials comparing the brave men and women in law enforcement to Nazis. It's completely disgusting."

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The acting director claimed the rhetoric being used by Wu and Jeffries is leading to violence against him and his agents, with his own home being targeted by masked protesters at 3:00 a.m. after his address was leaked.

Jeffries asserted on Friday that all masked ICE agents will have their identities revealed to the public "no matter what it takes, no matter how long it takes." (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

"They may not like it, but what the men and women of ICE are doing in Massachusetts and all over this country is making communities safer," he declared. "And under Secretary [Kristi] Noem, she is giving her vision, her leadership to go out there and make these communities safer and that's what ICE is doing."

After being asked how many agents he suspects to have been doxxed so far, Lyons estimated that "if not hundreds, thousands" have already had their identities involuntarily revealed.

"Look at Massachusetts alone, we had an officer — his photo went viral everywhere. One of the best officers, the most mild-mannered, nicest human beings on the planet, yet he was described in the worst way, with his photo taped to every street corner — to telephone poles identifying him," Lyons said. "Just for doing his job."

Wu and Jeffries didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

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Fox News' Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report.