CNN anchor Kasie Hunt was visibly taken aback by new border czar Tom Homan’s recent statement that he would jail a Democratic mayor who said he might not abide by the second Trump administration’s deportation plans.

After playing a clip Wednesday morning in which Homan said he was “ready to put Democratic Denver Mayor Mike Johnston in jail” for saying he would not deport illegal immigrants living in his city – Johnston had himself said he was prepared to be arrested for his defiant stance – Hunt appeared visibly disturbed and described the rhetoric as “more extreme” than that of the Trump campaign.

“This has some significant and more extreme echoes than some of what we’ve heard from the Trump campaign on the ground,” Hunt told a network panel that included former Trump White House communications director Mike Dubke and the Democratic activist Hyma Moore.

DENVER MAYOR MIKE JOHNSTON SAYS TRUMP’S MASS DEPORTATIONS OF REFUGEES WOULD CREATE A “Tiananmen Square Moment.”

CNN’s Kasie Hunt appeared visibly disturbed to hear new border czar Tom Homan threatening to jail the mayor of Denver, who suggested he might refuse to follow the deportation strategy of a second Trump administration.

Johnston said in a recent interview with 9News that he would be willing to go to prison to oppose any “illegal or immoral” deportation strategy the second Trump administration would use to reduce the illegal immigrant population in Colorado’s capital city .

“Yes, I’m not afraid of that, and I don’t aspire to be,” Johnston said in response to the prison question. “I think the goal is that we want to negotiate with reasonable people how to solve difficult problems,” he added, noting elsewhere that he supports limited deportations for people convicted of “serious crimes.” were convicted.

In a recent interview with Fox News Channel, Homan — who was nominated for border czar in early November — responded to the mayor’s comments, accusing him of possibly “breaking the law” and saying he would arrest Johnston if he persisted .

“They are absolutely breaking the law,” Homan told Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “All he has to do is look at Arizona vs. USA and he would see that he is breaking the law. But look, me and the mayor of Denver, we agree on one thing. He’s ready to go to prison, I’m ready to put him in prison.

Hunt played the clips of Johnston and Homan one after the other and widened his eyes as he heard the border czar candidate’s words. Then she exhaled audibly and added a worried “Oooooof.”

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She asked Dubke to comment on Homan’s rhetoric, and the former Trump official argued it was an effective part of Trump’s first-term immigration strategy.

“A type of apprehension has several phases – and I should choose a different word – but the apprehension of immigrants at the border. One of them that worked incredibly well in the early days of the first Trump administration was the rhetoric…So Tom Homan is very strong.” “The language will limit and hinder the number of people actually flooding the border,” said he.

“You say it will stop people from coming?” asked Hunt.

“We completely advise against that,” replied Dubke. “This is super important and we saw this – when the Biden administration came in, there was a flood for a reason. The rhetoric has been toned down.”

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Hanna Panreck of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.