Republicans on the House Oversight Committee hauled a quartet of mayors to Capitol Hill Wednesday with the intent of vilifying them for not forcing local police officers to do the jobs of federal immigration officials.
But as they attempted to slander so-called “sanctuary cities” for refusing to surrender to President Donald Trump’s deportation threats in advance, the representatives were clearly unprepared to have their own failures laid bare.
In one particularly illuminating moment, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) blamed Boston Mayor Michelle Wu (D) of acting unconstitutionally because “the federal government has jurisdiction and supremacy over all immigration laws.”
Wu was quick to point out that that might be true ― if Congress were to actually pass some form of immigration reform.
“Respectfully, congressman, you could pass bipartisan legislation and that would be comprehensive immigration law,” she said.
“The false narrative is that immigrants in general are criminals or immigrants in general cause all sorts of danger and harm,” Wu continued. “That is actually what is undermining safety in our communities.”
“If you wanted to make us safe, pass gun reforms. Stop cutting Medicaid. Stop cutting cancer research. Stop cutting funds for veterans. That is what will make our city safe,” she added.
Gosar appeared unprepared for the honest response.
“Yeah … thank you,” he said, smirking and shrugging. “I yield back.”
In 2024, Trump forced Republicans to kill a bipartisan border deal negotiated by President Joe Biden. Not because it was a bad deal, but because Trump cared more about denying Biden a political win than actually fixing the broken immigration process.
Instead he’s gone on to lie about immigrants and threaten them with mass deportation.
Mayors Brandon Johnson of Chicago, Mike Johnston of Denver and Eric Adams of New York, all Democrats, also testified Wednesday.
Republicans have threatened to withhold federal funding from the cities, and in January, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove also threatened to prosecute state and local officials who don’t cooperate with ICE.