Todd Lyons, acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told Newsmax on Monday that it's "absolutely crazy" that Democrat mayors of New Jersey sanctuary cities claim they are upholding the Constitution by impeding the administration's crackdown on illegal immigration.
The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit May 22 against four New Jersey cities — Hoboken, Jersey City, Newark, and Paterson — accusing them of perpetrating a "frontal assault on the federal immigration laws and the federal authorities that administer them."
Newark Democrat Mayor Ras Baraka, who was arrested May 9 for trespassing during a protest at ICE's Delaney Hall Detention Center in Newark — the DOJ dropped the charges — called the lawsuit "absurd," adding "we're not blocking safety, we are upholding the Constitution. Our policies reduce fear, increase trust, and have helped cut homicides by 61%. That's not a threat to public safety, that's what public safety looks like."
Lyons told "Rob Schmitt Tonight" that Baraka saying his city is upholding the Constitution is "absolutely crazy."
"All we're asking for is local jurisdictions to cooperate with us on individuals that have already been arrested," he said. "These local police departments have already deemed these criminal aliens to be a public safety threat, so why not turn them over to us instead of letting them roam free in New Jersey?
"To me, they're violating the Constitution by not protecting their citizens from these violent criminal aliens. And that's exactly what ICE is doing. What all ICE is asking for is cooperation. And not working with us does not make anyone safer."
Hoboken Democrat Mayor Ravi Bhalla responded to the lawsuit by stating, "Make no mistake about it — Hoboken will never aid [President] Donald Trump's inhumane treatment of law-abiding immigrants & residents. We will not back down."
"We're not going after law-abiding immigrants that are here legally," Lyons said. "We're going after these public safety threats that have already been arrested by their jurisdictions. So why not cooperate with us? Why not help us get these transnational criminal organizations out of their neighborhoods, get these fentanyl dealers, get these rapists?
"But instead, you want to hide behind this sanctuary wall and say that you are protecting your residents, which is the farthest from the truth."
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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