Former acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf told Newsmax on Tuesday that inflammatory rhetoric targeting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is contributing to increasingly dangerous confrontations between officers and people facing immigration enforcement, following the fatal shooting of a Colombian national during a removal operation in Maine.

Speaking to Newsmax's "Wake Up America," Wolf called it "a very tragic and unfortunate incident" but said the circumstances underscore the need for people to comply with lawful orders from federal officers while investigators determine exactly what happened.

"I would certainly agree with you. Anytime there's a loss of life, it's a very tragic and unfortunate incident," Wolf said. "But I think what we need to remember here is that the left has spent the last several years demonizing ICE, trying to delegitimize ICE, talking about how they're not a real law enforcement agency, and you don't have to adhere to their commands."

Authorities said the 26-year-old Colombian national was fatally shot after attempting to flee in a vehicle during an ICE enforcement operation related to a final order of removal. Officials later clarified that he was not the intended target of the operation. The shooting remains under investigation.

Wolf said people should treat ICE officers the same way they would any other law enforcement officers.

"Just like you don't flee from an FBI agent or your local police officer, you don't flee from ICE," he said. "They give you a lawful command. You should take that command and not try to get away."

He added that attempts to flee can rapidly escalate encounters.

"So anytime that happens, it escalates the situation very seriously. And then ICE officers have to use the appropriate amount of force," Wolf said. "Now, let me say this. This will be investigated just like the incident in Houston recently, just like Renee Good and others. So I'm going to let the full details of that investigation play out."

Wolf argued that the broader issue is a political climate that he believes encourages resistance to immigration enforcement.

Wolf said, "What I see is a pattern here of the left continuing to again, try to delegitimize ICE and individuals listening to them and saying, 'Well, you know, I really don't have to stop. I really, I can, I can try to get away in my car, I can do all these different things because I hear elected officials telling me that ICE isn't a real law enforcement agency.'"

Responding to criticism that ICE officers lack adequate training, Wolf rejected that characterization.

"Absolutely not," he said. "They go they have the same training as state and other state and federal law enforcement officers. They go to the federal academy in Glynco, Georgia. They get training."

Wolf also noted the department's effort to expand the use of body-worn cameras. "I know there's a lot talked about body cameras, which DHS is trying to do their best to get them outfitted, even though they had a 76 day shutdown by the Democrats. So there will be body cameras out there."

He said the central issue remains compliance with lawful orders.

"This is making sure that we are telling the American people and anyone here that if you are stopped by any law enforcement official, but particularly ICE, you have to adhere to their lawful commands," Wolf said. "They are a sworn law enforcement officer, and you cannot run. You cannot use your weapon, your vehicle as a weapon. All these things escalate the situation and usually bad things occur."

Wolf also criticized Democrat officials, including Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., for statements condemning ICE before the investigation is complete.

"They can't help themselves. The left, they simply can't," Wolf said.

Referring to descriptions of ICE as a "domestic army" and comparisons to "Nazis and the Gestapo," Wolf said, "This type of language is incendiary, and it's going to continue to ... fan the flames there."

"It's okay to have policy disagreements, but when you're calling them a domestic army, you've gone too far," he said. "And I think you're incentivizing others out there to take matters in their own hands as well."

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