Over the past year or so, “sanctuary cities” have been a thorn in the side of President Donald Trump and the hundreds of thousands of agents attempting to arrest violent illegal immigrant criminals. These rules are set in place by local leaders, believing that cooperation between federal immigration authorities (like ICE) and local law enforcement shouldn’t be happening.
It makes no sense. It literally boggles the mind. These leaders would rather protect violent criminals than the citizens that they’ve been sworn into office to defend. That’s like siding with the bank robber over the police trying to arrest them.
And now it appears that Connecticut is the latest example of a state that’s leaning heavily on the “sanctuary city” policy, with Governor Ned Lamont, Attorney General William Tong, and the New Haven leaders deciding it’s a good idea. Well, tell you what, the Department of Justice doesn’t believe so, and they’re acting on behalf of the citizens who deserve better.
The Department officially filed a lawsuit against these parties, as well as Mayor Justin Elicker, challenging the sanctuary policy and noting that it interferes completely with the federal government’s enforcement of immigration laws.
It’s all under a general “Trust Act,” but it stems back to 2020, when there was a Welcoming City Act put into place. It pretty much stops local law enforcement from inquiring about an individual’s immigration status, and also stops them from collaborating with any federal immigration authorities. In any way, might I add.
In essence, it’s stopping the hard-working police forces in Connecticut from working with ICE, putting extreme strain on them, and making proper arrests of criminals. Terrible, isn’t it?
Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate made it perfectly clear what the real problem is with Connecticut’s sanctuary policies. He calls them an “open defiance” against the ordinances put in place by President Donald Trump last year when he returned to the White House.
“For years, Connecticut communities have paid the price of these misguided sanctuary policies,” he explained. “This lawsuit seeks to end such open defiance of federal law.”
Of course, Mayor Elicker instantly dismissed any claims made by the lawsuit, insisting it was filled with “untruths” and that the comments were nothing short of “misleading.”
“There’s actually quotes from the executive order that have ‘dot dot dot’ where they don’t finish the sentence and the last part of the sentence of the executive order actually clarifies the beginning part,” he noted.
So, just to reiterate. Elicker is more concerned about the language surrounding a lawsuit rather than focusing on why the lawsuit itself was filed to begin with. Doesn’t sound right, does it?
Gov. Lamont also added to the conversation, stating that the enforcement of immigration law demonstrates “a long-standing principle: the federal government cannot require states to use their personnel or resources to carry out federal enforcement responsibilities.”
Yes, he said that out loud in a statement. He notes, free and clear, that the city’s local police shouldn’t work with federal enforcement because they don’t believe in federal enforcement responsibilities. So they’re more about protecting criminals rather than letting these departments team up to remove the dangerous elements within their state.
This isn’t the first time that the Justice Department has gone after a state over sanctuary policies. They also filed a suit against Colorado for something similar, though, sadly, a federal court dismissed it with little basis.
It’s just frustrating. Local and federal law enforcement need to be working together to remove the criminal element from all of these cities. But, instead, these Democratic leaders believe the best solution lies in keeping the departments separated and letting the criminals roam free. It’s sad to see, because Trump and his fellow ICE agents are working to unify the country, while these leaders would rather keep things divisive.
I do hope this particular lawsuit sees better traction, if only because of the points that were made within it. All the Department of Justice wants is for all law enforcement to work together to resolve the illegal immigrant problem. Why anyone would argue against that is beyond me.
Fingers crossed that this particular court actually listens. It needs to.
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