Local Leaders Respond to Trump's Bullshit Attack on Sanctuary Cities
Today, Donald Trump, who lost the popular vote by 2,864,974 votes, is gearing up to attack sanctuary cities like Portland via a bullshit executive order that would pull federal funding from cities that have vowed not to use their local law enforcement resources to enact the "president's" terrible anti-immigrant policies.
Today, Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden and Mayor Ted Wheeler were among a number of Democratic leaders who responded to the "president's" executive order.
Here's Merkley's statement, from a press release posted to his website, in which he kindly explains that maybe building infrastructure here in America would be a better use of our time than building an expensive, redundant border wall:
Trump’s border wall will waste our scarce resources: a 21-foot ladder defeats a 20-foot wall. There are smarter strategies for border security and for infrastructure investment. Let’s repair and expand our roads, bridges, jetties, transmission lines, rural broadband, and water infrastructure, to name just a few much better options.Moreover, Trump’s plan to turn local police into immigration agents promotes crime by destroying the community policing strategies essential for effective law enforcement. It’s a big mistake, and I stand with our cities determined not to make this mistake.
Senator Wyden had the patience to explain how policing actually works to our clueless "president":
It’s clear that effective policing requires trust between law enforcement and community members, and any action to remove essential funding from cities and counties choosing to not enforce certain federal immigration laws seriously threatens public safety. With that clear premise in mind, I will keep working to protect the priorities of Oregonians, including the choice by cities like Portland and counties in our state to welcome immigrants and refugees as neighbors.
And finally, a word from Mayor Wheeler, who shares his ancestor's Oregon Trail journey and cites constitutional provenance for refusing to comply with the "president's" xenophobic agenda:
For more than 150 years, Portland has been a destination for those wanting to apply their hard work to the purpose of creating a better life for themselves and their families. My own family made the trek on the Oregon Trail. We are a city built on immigration.We are not going to run from that history. We will not be complicit in the deportation of our neighbors. Under my leadership as Mayor, the City of Portland will remain a welcoming, safe place for all people regardless of immigration status.This approach is consistent with the Oregon state law and the 4th and 10th Amendments of the United States Constitution. We will not compromise our values as a city or as Americans and will resist these policies.
You're in good company, Portland. Leaders in sanctuary cities are speaking up across the country right now. Seattle Mayor Ed Murray called today "the darkest day in immigration history in America since the internment of Japanese Americans in the Second World War." Buzzfeed's reporting that the ACLU has already threatened legal action. (No thanks to you, though, Forest Grove.)
It's not immediately clear how enforceable this hateful executive order is, but it's worth looking at the Washington Post's reporting on sanctuary cities from earlier this month, which states that "the law doesn't require local authorities to detain illegal immigrants just because their federal counterparts make a request. In fact, federal courts across the country have found complying with the requests is voluntary."
