Huntington Beach Mayor Pat Burns said Thursday he's got no respect for California Gov. Gavin Newsom or his open border policies, telling Newsmax that the Democrat is a "self-serving tyrant."
Burns joined "National Report" to discuss the reaction to his city's adoption of a resolution last month that declared Huntington Beach would not be a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants, running afoul of Newsom's policies and California's designation as a sanctuary state.
Burns said the city's adoption of the resolution on Jan. 22 has elicited "quite a bit of support," even from the migrant community in the city of 190,000.
"We've got a good migrant community here in Huntington Beach that deserves every layer of law enforcement just like the rest of our city," Burns said.
But Burns assailed Newsom for policies that are deleterious to migrants in the state legally.
"I'm no lover of Newsom. I think he's a self-serving tyrant, in a sense. He knows that a lot of cities can't fight the state. Their budgets won't allow them to take any kind of legal action and sue the state against some of his policies," Burns said.
"You know, he's got an open border-type policy, yet he claims that we have a housing shortage. Then he wants to give them free medical, free phones, free food, free housing, and yet he's crying about a budget deficit," Burns added. "And then on top of that budget deficit, he wants to appropriate $25 million to fight [President Donald] Trump and then another $25 million to give legal aid to the illegal migrants to fight deportation or ICE. I have no respect for him."
Burns was asked how one could reconcile $50 million in Trump-proofing but then asking Trump for disaster aid at a White House meeting on Wednesday.
"I heard one term: snake oil salesman. I don't trust anything the man does. I don't think it's virtuous; I don't think he's doing it really for the people. I think he's doing it for image," Burns said. "I know here in Huntington Beach we're serving the people. We put Huntington Beach first, and we're going to use every power we can to make it the safest community we can."
In the end, Burns said he "doesn't worry about the politics side" of the decision to turn away from sanctuary city refuge.
"If it's right, it's right, and it should be easy to do," he said. "I'm just surprised that it's such an issue and so newsworthy in a sense that common sense is being exercised by a government."
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Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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