Home Republicans held a listening to on Wednesday to assault cities led by Democratic mayors for not adopting President Donald Trump’s exhausting line on immigration. However the mayors fought again towards the GOP narrative in the course of 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 couple of years utilizing the committee to pursue anti-Joe Biden conspiracies that fizzled out.
Republicans have typically argued that cities like Boston and Denver are run as “sanctuary cities” with lax immigration insurance policies which have led to crime (regardless that crime is down in recent times), although it’s essential to notice that there isn’t a strict definition of a sanctuary metropolis.
Tom Homan, who Donald Trump appointed as his “border czar” just lately took a break from complaining about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to announce he deliberate to carry “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 informed 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 range, noting that 28% of the long-lasting metropolis’s 700,000 residents are immigrants and that college students in Boston Public Faculties hail from greater than 139 completely different international locations. Wu defined that there have been 24 homicides recorded in Boston in 2024, the bottom quantity since 1957.
In one other change, Rep. Jim Jordan (a key Trump ally) complained that Denver Mayor Mike Johnston was purportedly being mushy on crime and offering sanctuary to gang members.
As he yelled on the mayor, Johnston patiently defined that 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 subject, insisting that Denver is working as a “sanctuary city.”
New York Mayor Eric Adams
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 fees towards him, apparently in change 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 an alternative of exploring options on the contentious subject, the Oversight listening to sought to assault Democrats for not going together with the best’s invective.
However the mayors stood their floor regardless of the tried ambush.
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