Well, Joe Concha at The Hill clipped this interesting exchange between CNN’s Jake Tapper and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio concerning President Donald J. Trump’s executive orders on immigration, specifically the ones targeting sanctuary cities.
De Blasio said that there are inaccuracies about New York City’s sanctuary status. He said that there were 500,000 illegal aliens in the city, and law enforcement said that it was critical in the war on crime to allow these people to come forward and report crimes without the fear of being deported. He added that this is a policy that goes back to the Ed Koch era. Moreover, De Blasio mentioned that Trump’s executive order to target funding could impact the Department of Homeland Security anti-terrorism dollars that flow into the NYPD.
Yet, Tapper also mentioned that the city shields illegals that commit crimes that the city considered to be “lesser offenses,” like running a traffic stop or possession of marijuana, from the federal authorities. De Blasio reasoned that these are deportable offenses that would lead to the break up of families. He also said that the vast majority of illegals are law-abiding, despite them violating federal immigration law. He was tugging at the heartstrings. But Tapper pushed the mayor, asking him whether grand larceny or drunk driving—crimes that are shielded by the city—would be considered minor offenses. The mayor said they would shield those people, as long it doesn’t lead to negative outcomes—whatever that means. De Blasio added illegals who commit violent offenses, or anything involving a weapon, are reported to the federal authorities (via
New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio told CNN's Jake Tapper that it is OK to shield undocumented immigrants who drive drunk from federal authorities if it does not "lead to any other negative outcome."Tapper asked the Democratic mayor on Sunday's "State of the Union" if he would comply with federal authorities following President Trump's executive order to halt funding to cities that do not cooperate with immigration officials by presenting a specific scenario.
"If you’re a drunk driver and you’re an undocumented immigrant, why should there be a place for you in this country?” Tapper asked.
"Jake, there are 170 offenses in that law that are listed as serious and violent crimes that lead to automatic cooperation between the city of New York and our federal partners,” DeBlasio replied. “So any serious and violent crime, we’re going to work with them.”