As a Philly resident, I cannot stress enough how much balls this decision shows from the mayor and the DA. We are not San Francisco or New York City but a perennially cash-strapped city at the mercy of a Republican state legislature and the Feds. The mayor is doing the right thing here (after some push from the Left) but it is not, unlike in NY and CA, an easy thing.
As the Trump Administration has set up a Denaturalization Task Force, it’s clear no immigrant is truly safe from the threat of deportation. As such, I applaud this move by the city of Philadelphia. These are scary times for anyone born abroad regardless of how long they’ve been here or love this country.
With this President, if you dare to criticize him publicly and are a naturalized citizen, I imagine your status gets looked at very closely by the Millers in his orbit.
This is excellent. Expect more cities to come. Welcome to the fight. This time, I know our side will win.
“We’re not going to provide them with information so they can go out and round people up,” Democratic Mayor Jim Kenney said Friday as he announced his decision to let a decade-old contract with ICE expire at the end of next month.
Does the AP put “Republican” next to Trump’s name every time they mention him?
I hate the AP.
Good for him. As the mayor pointed out, ICE is targeting decent, law-abiding, hard working people whose only problem is their resident status situation. Declaring open season on them and watching them dragged from their homes makes thoughtful citizens feel less safe, not more, I think. It happens in the burbs, too, and we don’t like it one bit. We’re fighting with votes, since we don’t have the clout Philly has. Decapitate the octopus, the arms go limp, right?
Philly has a tradition of saying Nope. Hell, the basketball team’s called the 76ers. At least I think it is. I’m not a big team sports guy.
Was it an option for the Mayor to let the contract expire quietly or was it a prominent issue locally? Or did he choose to publicize his decision to demonstrate to immigrants he has their backs and/or it’s a winning political issue for him?
Fine. Just use your own resources.
This is about Republican big government. If the Feds don’t have enough money to do their job, they can get more from the business elite.
Who does this? This isn’t about some naturalized citizen who was convicted of a felony - this is intentionally searching for any small written error anywhere made in the application process in order to strip hard fought citizenship, and deport people. Inhumane.
I had missed that article, thanks for linking it. It is an important read.
Does anyone know about the status of ICE cooperation in San Antonio? San Diego?
And Chicago?
That is what leaves a cold chill down the spine. Controlling our borders is one thing. Losing our humanity in the process is another thing entirely.
But that is what I see with the Republicans and their supporters. They have not simply drawn a line in the sand on issues. They have said it is their way only. And as they roll along, they are making distinctions about people that step past legalities and technical details. Look down the road and those distinctions will have new targets and opportunities.
More cities need to do this. We don’t have to abide by the dictates of a gov’t body that violates human rights with impunity.
If I were a Mayor, a City Council, or on a County board I would be looking for ways to seize control of facilities being utilized by ICE to detain kids, and bring in staff and media to help improve care re-connect families. This would force the Federal Gov’t to sue, attempt to physically re-take control or concede or yield control to local authorities. I think we need some form of civil disobedience where states and cities refuse to cooperate with an immoral (and I believe illegal) federal government policy but also to restrict their ability to operate or function within states/cities.
Racist sheriffs resisted the Federal government’s efforts to end segregation and curb racist violence for years. The Bundys go on to federal property and take control of it for days. All I’m asking for is to take over some facilities and help some kids who are being mistreated and abused.
This is how fucked up its getting. https://www.click2houston.com/news/national/wife-of-former-us-marine-facing-deportation-to-mexico https://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/12/22/deported-former-marine-speechless-after-return-us.html
This has gone largely under the radar. Someone could have been living here for over forty years with a family, well established in their community and career, giving back to society, and still find themselves on the wrong side of a deportation hearing all because of an innocent mistake on their citizenship application. I don’t think enough people are aware as to what’s going on here.
This rather odd declaration from an article in Science News now sounds oddly appropriate:
We live in a golden age of misinformation.
Better be careful! Philly fans can be downright dangerous: http://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2016/04/23/flyers-philadelphia-sports-fans. Just ask Santa.
Only arresting people who are breaking the law and not everyone. What a crazy idea!
But of course, the whole logic against “illegals” is that borders are the most fundamental of all laws so anyone who violates border laws are essentially violating the concept of laws; and every second they’re in our country is a continued violation of every law. Moreover, this is entirely intentional as these people are fully aware of the importance of border laws, and are only here as pawns in an epic struggle to hurt white people and not because they’re human beings trying to better themselves.
So the first defense of America is to round up every “illegal” they can find, including the sneaky ones who pretend to be law-abiding workers with families as part of their plot to subvert America and White Culture. Sadly, the people most likely to join ICE are the ones who believe every word of this, because nobody else would want such a terrible job in the first place.
U.S. Homeland Security spokeswoman Katie Waldman:
putting the rights of criminal aliens over the safety and security of American citizens
Oddly enough, her president has been accused of the same thing …