In separate statements Thursday afternoon, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva ripped the federal ICE deportations of undocumented immigrants slated to begin Sunday and said he was not aware of any FBI probe into Sheriff’s Department subgroups, as reported earlier Thursday by the Los Angeles Times.

“I strongly oppose President Trump’s direction to ICE to begin mass deportations across our nation this coming weekend,” Villanueva said.

“The presence of undocumented residents in our communities calls for compassion not threats of deportation and family separation,” he said. “As your Los Angeles County Sheriff, I stand for everyone’s public safety and understand a basic principle of law enforcement, which is that we cannot ensure public safety if residents are afraid to contact law enforcement to report a crime.”

As to the reported FBI investigation into tattooed subgroups within the sheriff’s department, Villanueva said, “The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is not aware of any ongoing investigation by the Federal Bureau of an investigation of subgroups from the East Los Angeles Sheriff’s Station.

“However, in the event that an investigation is initiated the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will provide our full cooperation,” he said.