As new President Donald Trump gets ready to carry out “the largest mass deportation in U.S. history,” New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte wants to ban “sanctuary” places that don’t help with federal immigration crackdowns.
Ayotte, a Republican and former U.S. senator who was sworn in last week, promised that local governments would not be able to make these kinds of rules and that she would pass a law that would require local cops to hand over undocumented immigrants wanted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be deported.
“We’ve got the Massachusetts illegal immigrant crisis right down the road if you want to see what these dangerous policies do not just to communities, but to the state budget,” Ayotte said in her first speech. “They spent over a billion dollars to house migrants instead of investing in their legal residents.” That can’t take place here.”
Ayotte’s campaign theme, “Don’t MASS Up New Hampshire,” made fun of Massachusetts’ high taxes and the migrant crisis, which is made worse by “sanctuary” laws that make it harder for local police to work with ICE agents.
“Our neighbors to the south seem determined to show that doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome is the definition of insanity.” As they try to deal with the billion-dollar problem of illegal immigrants, they are instead choosing to make things worse, Ayotte said in a recent speech. “In New Hampshire, we’re going to ban sanctuary policies and give police the tools they need to work together to keep our towns safe from this crisis.”
Policies about sanctuaries change a lot from place to place. A lot of them are meant to stop local police from acting as immigration agents or enforcing the civil and criminal federal immigration rules. In New Hampshire, some cities and towns, like Manchester, have laws that make it illegal to work with federal agents who are looking for undocumented immigrants on so-called ICE detainers, which can be either criminal or civil.
Tom Homan, Trump’s “border czar,” has promised to keep the president-elect’s campaign promise to detain and deport illegal immigrants. He also says that states that don’t follow through with a government crackdown on immigration will be punished.
Ayotte said she is “counting on” lawmakers to send her a bill that would stop cities and towns in New Hampshire from passing laws that would stop the Trump administration from carrying out its plans to remove people.
So-called “sanctuary city” policies would be illegal under a bill introduced by Republicans on Monday. Local police would also have to use their “best efforts to support the enforcement of federal immigration law.” It is written in the bill that any city or town in New Hampshire that makes a “sanctuary city” policy will be punished by the state attorney general.
“If a local governmental entity or local law enforcement agency violates this chapter, the court shall enjoin the unlawful sanctuary policy,” the bill says. “The court has continuing jurisdiction over the parties and subject matter and may enforce its orders with the initiation of contempt proceedings as provided by law.”
Leave a Comment