A Texas sheriff went off the rails during a White House press briefing on border security Thursday, calling jailed undocumented immigrants “drunks who would run over your children.” Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn was speaking alongside Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Matt Albence when he said releasing migrants who are currently imprisoned, instead of turning them over to U.S. authorities, would lead to more crime. “If we have to turn them loose or they get released, they’re coming back to your neighborhood and my neighborhood. These drunks will run over your children and they will run over my children,” Waybourn said.

The sheriff also defended border agents, comparing public criticism of ICE to the treatment of soldiers who returned from Vietnam.“[They are] eviscerating honorable people [who are] doing noble things and standing on the wall between good and evil for you and me,” he said.