Chris Christie was one of the first major mainstream politicians to endorse Donald Trump. Now he’s helping the president elect stand up against the rising tide of illegal immigration:

Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., never made it into President Donald Trump’s Cabinet after being fired as head of the transition, but he vowed to be a “really willing partner” of Trump’s potential federal defunding of “sanctuary cities” in his state.

“The fact is that those folks should be enforcing federal law, and the federal government has to give tools to the states to be able to help them have the enforcement of federal law,” Christie told Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor” on Thursday night. “The Obama administration had no interest in that. I hope the Trump administration will, and if they do, they’re going to have a really willing partner in me.”

Christie’s remarks came just days after the ousted Trump adviser ripped the “terrible” execution of President Trump’s executive order on halting refugees and putting a hold on travel from seven countries outlined as dangerous terror threats.

“There was not enough communication even within the administration — it’s clear,” Christie told host Bill O’Reilly. “The Homeland Security secretary said he never saw the executive order. You had others in the administration who were not as well briefed as they should have been.