A key Trump administration spokesperson just quit because he didn’t want to spread lies anymore

By now, President Donald Trump’s falsehoods have become a punchline: The president lies so frequently that it’s hard to discern when he’s telling the truth. And Trump, unfortunately, also enlisted others in his administration to spread misinformation. Recently, former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks said that she had told “white lies” on behalf of the president. Now, one Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson is taking a stand against incorrect information, and resigned because of it.

The spokesperson, James Schwab, worked for the San Francisco Division of ICE. Schwab resigned on March 12th, telling CNN that he was uncomfortable with the misinformation spread by Trump administration officials.

"I just couldn't bear the burden — continuing on as a representative of the agency and charged with upholding integrity, knowing that information was false," he told CNN in an interview.

For Schwab, the final straw was when Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the ICE Director condemned Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf for warning residents about an impending ICE raid targeting 1,000 undocumented immigrants. Both Sessions and the ICE deputy director said that Schaaf’s warning had helped 864 people escape and referred to these escaped immigrants as “public safety threats.” false

Schwab told the San Francisco Chronicle that not only did he feel it was wrong to refer to the undocumented immigrants as “public safety threats,” but also ICE would likely not have been able to capture all 1,000 people anyway. He also said that he had requested that the agency correct their information, and when the agency refused, he quit.

"I asked them to change the information. I told them that the information was wrong, they asked me to deflect, and I didn’t agree with that. Then I took some time and I quit," Schwab told the Chronicle. 

We live in a time when our president is hostile toward the truth, even branding credible media outlets as “fake news.” So now, more than ever, it’s important for government employees to stand up for what’s right. We applaud Schwab for refusing to perpetuate misleading information and for shedding some light on the government’s dishonesty.