Washington DC [US], February 16 (ANI): United States White House border czar Tom Homan defended Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers wearing masks, stating that the officials need to protect themselves against threats and violence, CBS News reported.

Homan told CBS News that threats and violence against the ICE officials have increased exponentially.

'I don't like the masks either. These men and women have to protect themselves,' Homan said on Sunday (local time). He said assaults against federal immigration officers have increased by 1,500 per cent, while threats against them have risen by 8,000 per cent.

According to CBS News, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), last month, stated that assaults against ICE officers had increased by more than 1,300 per cent, without specifying a timeframe for this increase.

Tom Homan's remarks came amid a partial government shutdown centred on DHS, as Democrats demand reforms to the operations of ICE and Customs and Border Protection.

A ban on wearing masks is among the key demands raised by the Democrats. As per CBS News, other demands include requiring ICE agents to wear body cameras and identification, stopping racial profiling and mandating judicial warrants for arrests on private property.

Speaking to CBS News, Homan said he is not a part of negotiations with the Democrats on DHS funding and called their demands 'unreasonable.' He added, 'They (Democrats) want to say, stop racial profiling. That's just not occurring. ICE will detain, briefly detain and question, but question somebody based on reasonable suspicion. It has nothing to do with racial profiling.'

Earlier, former US President Barack Obama described American politics under the second Trump administration as a 'clown show,' The Hill reported.

'They have poured a huge amount of money into ICE and their immigration agenda, and they've cut taxes for really wealthy people, and now they're trying to unravel a bunch of rules and norms and laws that are already in place; that's an easier job,' he said. 'I say that because we should accept the responsibility and the challenge that our job is going to be a little bit harder,' Obama said. (ANI)