Associated Press (AP) – Democratic mayors of four major cities said on Wednesday that the Trump congress and administration exert the crimes committed by immigrants and attacking that so -called sanctuary cities have simply marked political points, while the Republicans have hammered the criminal shielding policies and threatened to pursue local officials.
Look at the audience in the player above.
The comments came to an often fiery hearing ahead of the Government Surveillance and Reformation Committee, where the Republicans accused mayors of endangering and undermining the mass deportation efforts of President Donald Trump.
The Republicans have repeatedly highlighted a handful of brutal crimes committed by immigrants who have crossed illegally in the United States, with representative James Comer opening the hearings by saying that policies “only create the sanctuary for criminals”.
But the Democratic mayors – Michelle Wu from Boston, Brandon Johnson by Chicago, Mike Johnston from Denver and Eric Adams from New York – pushed strongly, even if they seemed to avoid the term “sanctuary” carefully.
The Republicans, they said, tried to paint their cities as invaded by criminal immigrants while crime fell. The mayors said that a security key was to create cities where residents feel comfortable to report crimes and work with the police.
“We know that there are myths on these laws. But we must not leave the errors of characteristics and fears obscure the reality that Chicago’s crime rates have dropped, “Johnson told the committee in a courtroom filled with journalists and spectators. “We still have a long way to go, but a sensational tragedy in the name of the political opportunity does not govern. It’s grand.
There is no legal definition for the policies of the city of the sanctuary, but they generally limit cooperation by local police with federal immigration agents. The courts have repeatedly maintained the legality of the laws on the sanctuary.
Johnston de Denver said that crime has decreased when the city faced an influx of immigrants from the United States by the United States by republican politicians. Like the other mayors, he said that the burden should be on congress to update federal immigration laws.
“If Denver can find a way to put aside our ideological differences for a long time to manage a crisis that we have not chosen or created, it seems fair to ask that the body which is really responsible for solving this national problem – this congress – can finally commit to doing the same,” he said.
Adams obtained some of the only praise from the Republican legislators, with Commer thanking him for working with immigration and the application of customs.
Adams’ criticisms say that his collaboration is part of an effort to get rid of the federal corruption accusations, although Trump was elected, the mayor called on the city’s legislators to allow New York police to work more with ice. The Trump administration ordered prosecutors to drop the case on the grounds that it distracts Adams to help the repression of immigration and to hinder its re -election campaign.
About two hours after the hearing start, Democratic legislators began to question it strongly about his work with the orders of the Administration and the Ministry of Justice of Trump to abandon the accusations.
“Do you sell New Yorkers to save you prosecution?” asked the representative Robert Garcia, from California.
“There is no contract, no quid pro quo. And I didn’t hurt anything, ”said Adams.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
The Immigration Act, said mayors, is a federal responsibility, and the attempt to put this responsibility on local law enforcement forces simply wary the police communities and other people they may need to request aid. Trump’s repression, the mayors said, terrified immigrants, many of whom in the United States.
“I spoke with pastors whose benches are half empty on Sunday,” said Wu, whose parents immigrated to the United States of Taiwan. “Doctors whose patients are lacking in appointments, teachers whose students do not come in class, neighbors are afraid of reporting crimes in their communities and victims of violence who do not call the police.”
“This federal administration does work and residents who fear God and who fear living their lives,” she said.
In communities that do not cooperate on immigration, ice agents enter to find people after their release. Ice argues that this is dangerous and tense the resources.
WATCH: Vance holds a press conference on immigration after turning the southern border in Texas
The republican representative of Ohio, Jim Jordan, toasted Johnston for an arrest of Denver who, according to him, demanded that the ice agents apprehend a man recently released from the local guard and made fun of the insistence of Johnston on the security of his city.
“It is a lie because it was not safer for ice agents who are part of your community. It’s no safer, “he said.
The Republicans have also repeatedly raised the possibility that managers of sanctuary cities can face prosecution for having violated federal law, representative Anna Paulina Luna de Florida saying that she returns the mayors to the Ministry of Justice for investigation.
“Your policies harm the American people,” she said.
Legal experts claim that if the accusations could theoretically be deposited, it is very unlikely that they would lead to convictions.
The legality of the laws on the sanctuary often depends on the distinction between two types of mandates.
Sanctuar policies generally require that local police are honoring criminal mandates, which are signed by judges and allow agents to enter the houses and to carry out arrests linked to alleged crimes.
Immigration agents, however, most often have administrative mandates, which are issued by ice and are not always recognized by local courts. These mandates can be used to hold someone to have violated immigration law, but do not let the agents enter homes without authorization.
Sullivan reported to Minneapolis. Sophia Tareen in Chicago and Cedar Attanasio in New York contributed to this report.