Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) uncovered sanctuary metropolis mayors over outrageous sums of taxpayer cash they’ve spent on the migrant disaster throughout a blistering line of questioning in a listening to on Capitol Hill Wednesday — however half of them couldn’t even present a full determine.
“Round $79 million since 2022,” Denver Mayor Mike Johnston informed members of the Home Oversight Committee, whereas New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams disclosed a shocking $6.9 billion has been spent on the migrant disaster.
Additionally current on the listening to to was Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who defined 1% of his metropolis’s total funds went to unlawful immigration — roughly amounting to $166 million of the $16.6 billion spent final 12 months — however he wouldn’t present a tough quantity.
“You’re the mayor and also you don’t have the mathematics in entrance of you?” requested an incredulous Donalds, who introduced his personal run for the Florida governor’s mansion final month. “If you happen to don’t have a tough quantity you’re not operating your metropolis properly.”
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu wouldn’t even supply any determine — telling the committee her metropolis doesn’t preserve monitor of how a lot it spends on unlawful migrants.
“You don’t ask about how a lot cash the town of Boston has spent on unlawful immigration? Are you out of your thoughts?” Donalds requested. “To the town of Boston, simply perceive that your mayor doesn’t care how a lot of your assets she has spent on people who find themselves not residents.”
Wu provided Beantown’s Aaa bond ranking as proof that its monetary home so as.
Whereas Adams obtained a relatively mild line of questioning from most Republicans within the committee, the others — leaders of a number of the largest sanctuary cities within the nation — had been pressured to clarify their insurance policies after refusing for years to cooperate with federal unlawful immigration enforcement.
Among the migrants have slipped by the localities’ fingers and gone on to commit horrific rapes and murders.
Johnson, Johnston and Wu pushed again of their opening statements in opposition to the fees, pointing to lowering crime charges of their cities, whereas acknowledging that detainers from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are solely honored for migrants with a prison warrant — not civil requests.
That also left lots of of harmful migrants launched the streets annually. In New York alone, federal civil immigration detainers plummeting from 1,485 in 2020 to fewer than 200 over the subsequent 4 years of the Biden administration, in keeping with NYPD statistics.
“It is rather tough for ICE to get a judicial warrant,” Staten Island GOP Rep. Nicole Malliotakis informed The Publish, displaying the statistics sheets exterior the listening to room. “It takes time. It’s not one thing that may be accomplished rapidly. And that’s the drawback. … It’s actually an impediment that Democrats have put in place as a result of they don’t wish to adjust to detainer requests.”
Some Republican members on the Oversight panel referred to as these practices outright violations of federal regulation — with Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) at one level even saying she was referring three of the large metropolis Dems to the Justice Division for doable prison prosecution.
Solely Adams was spared from the referral as a result of he “said publicly that he believes that unlawful immigration is hurting his metropolis,” Luna informed The Publish exterior the listening to room after her spherical of questioning.
“I truly went by and requested these folks particular person questions pertaining to their very own insurance policies,” she mentioned. “And I gave them an opportunity if they’d have answered and mentioned, ‘No, I feel that is improper … I wouldn’t have referred them. However the truth that they didn’t, after which they doubled down, then I referred them.”
In the meantime, a number of members of the panel blamed sanctuary metropolis insurance policies for notorious murders dedicated by migrants — together with Laken Riley, the nursing scholar who was killed in Georgia by a Venezuelan gang members who got here by New York Metropolis.
“Each crime dedicated by somebody in the USA illegally is against the law that will not have been dedicated,” Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.) said within the listening to.
“Laken Riley, Rubi Garcia, Rachel Morin, Jocelyn Nungaray, the girl set on hearth within the New York subway — these are all assaults, rapes, murders and different crimes that will not have taken the lives of those folks if these folks weren’t right here illegally,” he mentioned.
Democrats dismissed the Republicans’ accusations, with Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), the highest Democrat on the panel saying “the premise of this listening to is fake.”
“We’ve obtained native regulation enforcement cooperating with the native political management, and it’s working,” Connolly claimed. “It’s bringing down crime charges. And the proposition that immigrants trigger crime is fake and, in reality, patently false.”
However different GOP firebrands wouldn’t hear of it.
“You all have blood in your palms,” erupted Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who put the mayors within the host seat with a sequence of “sure” or “no” questions concerning the fallout from their sanctuary insurance policies.
“Do you acknowledge breaking into our nation is against the law?” she requested, adopted by “Do you imagine its acceptable for illegals who commit heinous crimes be launched again into the general public as an alternative of being detained and deported?” and “When an unlawful alien rapes a lady, do you imagine you’re on the precise aspect of historical past?”
Towards the tail finish of the listening to, Denver’s mayor hinted that regardless of he and his colleagues’ opposition to the Republicans’ immigration stance, the early days of the Trump admin have taken a number of the stress of his metropolis’s funds.
“Our expenditures are down dramatically, and we’d wish to see it keep that manner,” Johnston mentioned of the distinction between 2024 and 2025.
The listening to comes because the Trump administration’s crackdown on unlawful immigration has continued throughout the nation, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducting raids nationwide to round-up and start deporting unlawful immigrants with prison data.
Trump has mentioned he intends to increase deportation to all unlawful immigrants.
Each New York and Chicago have already been sued by the Trump administration over their sanctuary insurance policies for allegedly interfering with federal deportation operations — and the president has vowed to carry authorized motion in opposition to different sanctuary cities.
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