Home Republicans held a listening to on Wednesday to assault cities led by Democratic mayors for not adopting President Donald Trump’s arduous line on immigration. However the mayors fought again in opposition to the GOP narrative throughout the contentious session of the Home Oversight Committee.
The loaded title of the occasion was “A Hearing with Sanctuary City Mayors,” reflecting the built-in hostility from Chairman James Comer, who has spent the previous few years utilizing the committee to pursue anti-Joe Biden conspiracies that fizzled out.
Republicans have usually argued that cities like Boston and Denver are run as “sanctuary cities” with lax immigration insurance policies which have led to crime (despite the fact that crime is down in recent times), although it’s essential to notice that there’s no strict definition of a sanctuary metropolis.
Tom Homan, who Donald Trump appointed as his “border czar” lately took a break from complaining about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to announce he deliberate to deliver “hell” to Boston in retaliation for his or her immigration stance.
“Shame on him for lying about my city, for having the nerve to insult our police commissioner, who has overseen the safest Boston’s been in anyone’s lifetime,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu advised the committee.
“Bring him here under oath, and let’s ask him some questions. I’m here to make sure that the city of Boston is safe. Others may want to bring hell, we are here to bring peace to cities everywhere.”
Wu’s opening remarks highlighted Boston’s variety, noting that 28% of the enduring metropolis’s 700,000 residents are immigrants and that college students in Boston Public Faculties hail from greater than 139 totally different nations. Wu defined that there have been 24 homicides recorded in Boston in 2024, the bottom quantity since 1957.
In one other alternate, Rep. Jim Jordan (a key Trump ally) complained that Denver Mayor Mike Johnston was purportedly being smooth on crime and offering sanctuary to gang members.
As he yelled on the mayor, Johnston patiently defined that the town was following its ordinances and that he has reached out to the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement company to enhance coordination. Jordan continued to rant in regards to the matter, insisting that Denver is working as a “sanctuary city.”
However the bullying started earlier than the Oversight assembly as Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida knowledgeable Wu, Johnston, New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams, and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson that she was going to “criminally refer them to the Department of Justice for upholding sanctuary city policies,” The Hill reported.
“You all speak about a broken immigration system and yet here you guys are aiding and abetting in that entire process.”
Adams was the one mayor praised for his work with ICE. Then once more, controversy has swirled across the mayor as Trump’s DOJ moved to dismiss corruption prices in opposition to him, apparently in alternate for his cooperation on Trump’s hard-line anti-immigration agenda.
For years Republicans have sought to demonize migrants, and particularly below the management of Trump, the GOP has gone all-in on bigoted anti-immigration concepts and rhetoric. As a substitute of exploring options on the contentious matter, the Oversight listening to sought to assault Democrats for not going together with the correct’s invective.
However the mayors stood their floor regardless of the tried ambush.
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