Megyn Kelly Deals With Donald Trump’s ‘Sanctuary City’ Controversy
As Megyn Kelly mentioned on Wednesday evening at the beginning of her show, Donald Trump has promised to cut funding on sanctuary cities that house illegal immigrants without ever asking them of their documentation status. He plans to do this on his first day of office.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAg0JVbhFAc
Kelly introduced Santa Fe, New Mexico Mayor Javier Gonzales, who talked about why he wasn’t going to cave into Donald Trump’s threats.
“If Donald Trump decides to defund the city, how are you going to get by that? You need that money, right?” Kelly asked.
“Well, first its a long time before that actually happens, and I think an important conversation that needs to happen in America today is how do we go forward and create a unified effort to address the broken immigration system at the federal level,” Gonzales answered, adding that he believes it’s wrong to penalize cities that have been welcoming and creating opportunities for immigrants.
When asked about illegal immigrants who commit violent crimes, Gonzales assured Megyn Kelly that in Santa Fe, they prioritize in going after people who commit these crimes, whether they are documented or not. Megyn Kelly told him that many argue that sanctuary cities have become a magnet for illegal immigrants who want to commit crimes, especially because they have a better chance at getting away with them.
After arguing that sanctuary cities actually help decrease crime, Gonzales told Kelly that we live in a broken federal system where people who are undocumented are living peacefully and want to achieve the American dream. He believes that if we fix the system, cities wouldn’t have to become sanctuary cities.
Soon, Kelly brought on Katrina Pierson, a former spokesperson for Donald Trump, to speak about sanctuary cities.
“Well, it’s still against the law. Immigration studies show that in 2014, over 8,000 criminally convicted illegal immigrants were released into the population,” Pierson noted, adding that this is the one area where the federal government can intervene and has the responsibility to do so.
However, Eric Guster, an attorney and political analyst who often appears on Fox News, disagreed.
“This is the new civil rights struggle, and these people need to be protected from Trump and his irrational type of leadership. These people are living their lives, they are participating in the process, and are being great members of our community,” Guster responded, adding that if any of them commit serious crimes, they are deported.
Katrina Pierson doubled down on the fact that the entire rule or law is being ignored in favor of politics and individual agendas. She, like others, noted that this is a problem because there is proof that undocumented immigrants who commit violent crimes have been allowed to re-enter the country and commit even more crimes.
According to CBS News, Trump plans to deport two to three million illegal immigrants right when he takes office.
“What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, where a lot of these people, probably 2 million, it could be even 3 million, we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate,” Trump is quoted as saying before indicating that once the border is secure, immigration officials will begin to make a determination on the remaining undocumented immigrants in the United States.
Many have noted that two to three million sounds like a huge overestimation of the amount of undocumented immigrants who commit notable crimes. Many, including Megyn Kelly, have indicated that removing all these people will be difficult. It remains to be seen if Donald Trump can live up to his promise without causing a huge national dilemma.
[Featured Image by Win McNamee/Getty Images]
