U.S. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer of Kentucky will haul four sanctuary city mayors before his panel in February. Yesterday he informed the far-left gang that it should surrender documents in connection with their sanctuary policies.
The GOP committee chief wrote to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, and New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
The committee, Comer said, is investigating the sanctuary policies to assess their effect on public safety and immigration enforcement.
All four cities have enacted sanctuary statutes and policies to thwart the enforcement of federal immigration law.
The Letters
Each of the four leftists received an identical letter that explained that the committee would examine their sanctuary statutes. Comer called these “misguided and obstructionist policies” that “hinder the ability of federal law enforcement officers to effectuate safe arrests and remove dangerous criminals from American communities.”
Each of the cities is “a sanctuary jurisdiction that refuses to fully cooperate with federal immigration enforcement,” he wrote.
Sanctuary cities and states “take it upon themselves to decide what laws they will and will not abide by all for the purpose of shielding removable aliens, especially criminals, from federal law enforcement,” Comer continued.
Some 12 states and “hundreds of cities” have declared themselves sanctuaries.
But the four cities over which the mayors preside “stand out in their abject failure to comply with federal law.”
Chicago’s “Welcoming City Ordinance,” he wrote, stops local authorities “from arresting, detaining, or continuing to detain illegal aliens” subject to “an administrative warrant entered into the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Crime Information Center database” or “immigration detainers.”
New York City will not honor detainers, and will not notify immigration authorities that an illegal-alien thug has been released from jail.
As well, the city is subject to former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s executive order that forbids state employees revealing information to authorities for the enforcement of immigration law.
Johnson, Comer wrote, “confirmed that he was prepared to go to jail to protect illegal aliens from federal immigration authorities.”
Boston recently affirmed its commitment to protecting illegal aliens. Like New York City, it is also subject to state sanctuary laws.
Bring the Documents
To prepare for a hearing with the mayors on February 11, Comer requested the following from the cities by February 4: all documents and communications between city officials, between city officials and non-governmental organizations, between city and state officials, and between city and federal officials.
Comer is conducting the probe with an eye toward enhancing the enforcement of federal immigration law, he said:
[T]o ensure federal immigration enforcement can proceed unimpeded, Congress must determine whether further legislation is necessary to enhance border security and public safety. It is imperative that federal immigration law is enforced and that criminal aliens are swiftly removed from our communities.
Four Cities in Rebellion
The four cities are in one way or another breaking federal law and possibly inciting rebellion and insurrection against the federal government.
Led by hate-Trump Mayor Michelle Wu, Boston’s Council recently voted 13-0 to “to protect” illegal aliens and Biden “migrants.” Wu promised to fight Trump “in every possible way.” And the Bay State’s governor, Maura Healey, warned that the state would use “every tool in the toolbox” to harbor illegals.
Seattle, Washington, and San Diego County, California, recently joined the nationwide conspiracy to obstruct the enforcement of the law. But the most vocal among the four mayors to whom Comer wrote is Denver, Colorado’s Johnston.
Speaking to the Denverite website, Johnston just about promised open warfare against Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents should they attempt to carry out mass deportations in Denver.
“More than us having DPD [Denver police] stationed at the county line to keep [federal forces] out, you would have 50,000 Denverites there,” Johnston told the Denverite website. “It’s like the Tiananmen Square moment with the rose and the gun, right? You’d have every one of those Highland moms who came out for the migrants. And you do not want to mess with them.”
Apparently, the cops and “50,000 Denverites” weren’t up to a fight with ICE or any other federal agents. Drug Enforcement Agency personnel raided a “makeshift” nightclub in Denver to arrest members of the murderous Tren de Aragua Venezuelan gang on Sunday and collared 41 illegals.
Federal Crime
Be that as it may, local officials who attempt to thwart or refuse to cooperate with federal authorities violate 8 U.S. Code 1324, which forbids harboring illegals. Its provisions cover anyone who “knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien has come to, entered, or remains in the United States in violation of law, conceals, harbors, or shields from detection, or attempts to conceal, harbor, or shield from detection, such alien in any place, including any building or any means of transportation.”
ICE Director Tom Homan explained the law for Wu’s benefit after President Donald Trump won on November 5. “[Wu] helps us or she gets the hell out of the way, because we’re going to do it,” he said.
Continued Homan:
There’s a clear line here, and they can’t cross that clear line. I will suggest she read Title 8, United States Code 1324 III, that says you can’t harbor or conceal an illegal alien from federal law enforcement officers. …
They can not cooperate, but there are certain laws in place that they can’t cross, and I hope she doesn’t cross it.
Officials might also find themselves afoul of 18 U.S. Code 2383, which forbids rebellion and insurrection against the United States.
