For a president who claims to be from the party of “state’s rights” and “small government,” Trump seems to like pushing his agenda on blue states whenever it suits him. It suits him, apparently, to push an anti-immigration agenda, but the courts aren’t going to allow him to violate the U.S. Constitution.
A federal judge rejected the bulk of a Trump administration demand to block three California sanctuary laws, allowing the state to keep in place its most significant measures aimed at countering Trump's crackdown on illegal immigrationhttps://t.co/9fsDeBrv6o
— POLITICO (@politico) July 5, 2018
A federal judge denied Trump’s administration’s legal attempts to order sanctuary cities to change their policies. In a federal court order, legal documents show the GOP hardline stance as the basis of their argument.
‘Plaintiff argues that federal law preempts each provision because, in the area of immigration enforcement, California “lacks the authority to intentionally interfere with private citizens’ [and state and local employees’] ability to cooperate voluntarily with the United States or to comply with federal obligations.”’
California’s sanctuary policies are illegal and unconstitutional and put the safety and security of our entire nation at risk. Thousands of dangerous & violent criminal aliens are released as a result of sanctuary policies, set free to prey on innocent Americans. THIS MUST STOP!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 13, 2018
Even more alarming was the “plaintiff’s” (the U.S. government) attempts to block state inspectors from entering detention facilities to speak with detainees. Congressional lawmakers and reporters have also been banned from seeing inside the vast majority of them, so a sanitized video issued by the White House is the only version Americans have seen of what these centers look like.
‘Plaintiff also contends that California “has no authority to target facilities holding federal detainees pursuant to a federal contract for an inspection scheme to review the ‘due process’ afforded during arrest and detention.”’
Breaking: A federal judge has denied the Trump administration's effort to block California's "sanctuary" law https://t.co/dTLC3ANesI pic.twitter.com/7XYTSVrGS1
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) July 5, 2018
Since the public will never get the truth out of the Trump administration about sanctuary cities, here are some facts: sanctuary cities do not allow criminals to escape prosecution. A sanctuary city policy generally only means that local police officers will not be tasked with investigating the documentation or the reporting to federal authorities of any person without a warrant to do so. Sanctuary cities are not crime-ridden; in fact, they have no higher rates of crime than any other cities.
At the ICE facility I visited, I met a woman from Mexico who has lived here for 18 years. She called 911 after her husband brutally beat her. They turned her over to immigration authorities. She now fears deportation. She has 3 kids.
There should be no agency with this mission.
— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) July 3, 2018
Those are the facts, and facts matter…to everyone but Donald Trump.
Featured image via Getty/Mark Wilson