Sanctuary State Governors Double Down On Illegal Immigration In Tense Capitol Hearing

The conflict surrounding the Trump Administration’s deportation of illegal aliens is driven by a complex web of NGOs and astroturf activist groups, but Democrat politicians continue to play a considerable role in fomenting civil unrest.  State leaders were a key element of the BLM riots in 2020, providing a governmental green light for the mobs by exempting them from covid mandates.  City officials ensured that rioters and looters were released without charges, cycling them back out onto the streets to wreak havoc day after day.  Other Democrat leaders hobbled local law enforcement and prevented them from intervening in the riots.

The pattern seems to be repeating, with Democrats doubling down on their defense of illegal immigration and interfering in ICE operations.  The law, once again, is only important to progressives when it works in their favor.  When it doesn’t, they ignore it.

This week multiple Democrat governors defended their sanctuary state policies in a hearing on illegal immigration on Capitol Hill.  Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and New York Governor Kathy Hochul testified at the hearing, asserting that the immigration issue was being overblown by the Trump Administration and diminishing concerns over violent migrant crimes. 

Tim Walz argued that Trump was using the DHS as his personal “gestapo” and Kathy Hochul called deportations an “assault on American values”.

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“STOLEN VALOR!” – Minnesota Rep. Pete Stauber GOES OFF, Screaming at Gov. Tim Walz for False Military Service Claims and Lawless Sanctuary State Policies in House Hearing

After seven hours of grueling testimony in an explosive House Oversight Committee hearing on Thursday, Rep. Pete Stauber (R-MN) called out his Governor, Tim Walz, for disastrous pro-BLM and sanctuary city policies, his statements comparing ICE agents to the Gestapo, and stolen valor claims.

As The Gateway Pundit reported earlier, sparks flew when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Chairman James Comer had a confrontation with far-left Democrat Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost when he disrupted the hearing, demanding the committee subpoena DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. Her crime: being accosted aggressively by another Democratic Senator who was thrown to the ground and arrested.

In Rep. Stauber’s fiery exchange with Tim Walz, the Congressman brought a photo of rioters in Minneapolis, Minnesota, burning a police station during the 2020 George Floyd riots. “It’s a precinct burning down because of your decision! Was this a peaceful protest?” Stauber said as Walz refused to admit the riots in Minneapolis were not peaceful protests.

Stauber told the Governor, “As I watched lawless devestate Los Angeles this past week, I was reminded of your failure to protect Minnesota from similar riots.”

The Congressman further slammed the Governor for refusing to apologize or walk back previous statements he was asked about at least four times throughout the hearing, comparing ICE officers to Nazis and calling them the “Gestapo,” which he refused to do once again in the seventh hour of the nearly eight-hour long hearing.

He then took aim at Minnesota’s record of welcoming and protecting illegal aliens, as a befuddled Walz fumbled answers to Minnesota’s harboring of Al-Shabaab terrorists, child predators, and whether or not the officers who arrested them are Nazi Gestapo. He kept referring to “the tactics of wearing masks,” which is done to protect the agents and officers from foreign enemies, gangsters, and murderers.

“Why did you tell us that they were the Gestapo? You believe that any of the violent illegal immigrants I have mentioned have a right to be in this country?” the Congressman exclaimed. Walz replied disgracefully, “I don’t know what their immigration status was.”

Eventually, after tearing Walz to shreds on his sanctuary state record, the Congressman started his war on Walz’s military service records and accusations of stolen valor against the failed Vice Presidential candidate, asking him, “What weapons did you carry in war?” When Walz began to answer with a lie about the weapons he carried in a war he never fought in, the Congressman cut him off, and Walz began questioning what weapon Stauber, who was a police officer, carried in war.

“Governor, you’re barking down the wrong tree, okay? You lied to the Minnesotans. You said that you carry weapons in war,” Stauber shouted. “Stolen valor! You didn’t carry weapons in war!”

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N.Y. Gov. Hochul humbled in sanctuary debate

Rep. Elise Stefanik took the sanctuary debate straight to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday, leaving the Democrat struggling for answers over why illegal immigrants were running loose in communities to commit horrific crimes.

Ms. Stefanik ticked off appalling cases, including the rape of a 5-year-old, the rape of a 15-year-old and a sleeping woman lit on fire and burned alive in the subway — all of which were perpetrated by migrants shielded by sanctuary laws, the New York Republican said.

Ms. Hochul said she didn’t recall any of the cases — “I’m not familiar at this moment” — though she denounced the crimes themselves.

“These crimes are horrific,” she said. “In all of these cases, we would work with ICE to remove them.”

The exchange came during a hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee with governors whose states have sanctuary policies.

One of the New York cases involved Raymond Rojas Basilio, an illegal immigrant set free by local authorities after serving a child molestation sentence.

Another involved a migrant accused of sneaking up on the sleeping woman and lighting her afire, killing her.

“ICE was told not to detain this individual, and he burned a woman alive on the subway, in Kathy Hochul’s New York,” Ms. Stefanik said.

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Bill Would Stop Giving Federal Handouts To Cities That Obstruct Immigration Law Enforcement

As the leftists running Los Angeles fail to get the leftists destroying Los Angeles under control, two Republican lawmakers aim to hold sanctuary governments accountable for impeding federal law enforcement officials from enforcing immigration law. 

Reps. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, and Sheri Biggs, R-S.C., on Tuesday introduced the Mobilizing Against Sanctuary Cities Act, which “blocks federal financial assistance for one year to any city or state that refuses to honor ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] detainers.” The legislation also prohibits state and local governments restricting communications with the Department of Homeland Security. 

“If any city refuses to comply with the laws of our nation, blatantly works against the Department of Homeland Security, and wastes billions of taxpayer dollars shielding illegal aliens at the risk of American citizens, then they should be cut off from receiving even a penny of federal funding,” Gill said in a joint press release. 

A similar Republican-led bill introduced by Rep. Jeff Duncan of South Carolina died in the last session of Congress. 

Flouting the Law

Sanctuary cities, such as Los Angeles, bar local police from helping ICE and other federal law enforcement officials with immigration-related operations. In November, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted to officially designate the nation’s second-largest city a sanctuary city, “prohibiting city resources or personnel from being used to help federal enforcement of immigration laws,” NBC4 Los Angeles reported. The vote came two weeks after President Donald Trump was elected. 

“We have been a pro-immigrant city for a number of years, we know that there is a target on our back from this president-elect, and what we are doing here is we are hardening our defenses,” Councilman Bob Blumenfield said at the time, as reported by NBC4. “We are codifying our good policies on protecting immigrants.”

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‘I Smell CIA/Deep State All Over This’ — RFK Jr. VP Nicole Shanahan Blasts Sanctuary Cities, Says Violent Migrants Are Being Used to Attack Federal Law Enforcement

What began as a lawful operation turned into outright insurrection in the so‑called sanctuary city of Los Angeles. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents conducted multiple strikes Friday — targeting a Home Depot, fashion warehouses, clothing outlets in downtown L.A., and a meat‑packing plant in Paramount — arresting deportable illegal aliens, including some with criminal records.

The result? Large crowds descended, blocking lanes, hurling bricks and chunks of concrete, setting trash fires, smearing graffiti on federal buildings, and assaulting federal vehicles.

According to Fox News reporter Bill Melugin:

Federal sources ID some of the criminal illegal alien targets ICE arrested in their LA operation yesterday & today, which sparked violent protests. They include multiple gang members, convicted sex offenders, violent gun offenders, & drug offenders. One has already been deported. They include:

Rolando Veneracion-Enriquez, a national of the Philippines who has prior convictions for sexual penetration with a foreign object, assault with intent to commit rape, and burglary, all in California.

ARMANDO ORDAZ, a Mexican national & known gang member with a convictions for sexual battery, receiving stolen property, and theft in Los Angeles.

VICTOR MENDOZA-AGUILAR, a previously deported Mexican national & known gang member with convictions for assault with a deadly weapon, and possessing drug paraphernalia.

DELFINO AGUILAR MARTINEZ, a Mexican national with a conviction for assault with a deadly weapon causing great bodily injury in LA.

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Boulder Was a Sanctuary. Now It’s a Crime Scene

The suspect in the Boulder, Colorado, terror attack wasn’t a lone wolf—though you wouldn’t know it from the gaslight-and-deflect routine of the legacy press.

He was the inevitable result of a system built to fail—and preserved in decay by design.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman, the Egyptian national now accused of carrying out a targeted attack that injured multiple people, was in the United States illegally. The FBI confirmed it. The Department of Homeland Security under President Trump is pursuing consequences.

But the real indictment here isn’t of one man—it’s of an entire era of lawlessness engineered by the prior administration and protected by local sanctuary policies that treat immigration enforcement not as a duty but as a sin.

Investigators say Soliman schemed for more than a year. His chosen target? A vigil for the Jewish hostages still imprisoned by Hamas—a scene of solidarity twisted into one of terror by a man consumed with hate.

Let’s be clear: Soliman should never have set foot in Boulder—or any corner of a nation governed by laws and borders.

He should never have been here. And he should never have had the chance to harm innocent Americans.

And the reason he did is because the American left spent four years dismantling border security, hollowing out interior enforcement, and suing anyone who tried to stop it.

Now, the usual voices want you to believe this was a fluke. It wasn’t. It’s precisely what happens when “enforcement priorities” become bureaucratic code for doing nothing at all.

Soliman didn’t sneak in last week. He entered during Joe Biden’s border bonanza—on a B-2 tourist visa in August 2022. That visa expired in February 2023. But Soliman remained unlawfully, filed an asylum claim, and was granted a work permit that lapsed this past March.

He was living openly in Colorado Springs with his wife and five children—all of whom are now in ICE custody and being processed for expedited removal. Homeland Security is also investigating whether any family members had prior knowledge of or gave support to the attack.

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‘They shielded a killer’: Liberal activists prevent ICE Boston from apprehending murder suspect

If you need any more proof that leftists care more about serving their ideology than protecting their fellow man, look no further than Massachusetts.

The left has recently taken up the curious tactic of defending illegal aliens, including those suspected and convicted of heinous crimes, from immigration authorities. A recent event in the sanctuary city of Somerville is shedding light on this activity after activists “shielded a killer.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement was reportedly surveilling a suspected murderer when their operation was interrupted by activists who made a scene and forced the agents to retreat.

Bill Melugin weighed in with a comment from ICE Boston, who claim that the suspect was nearby a school.

“ICE Boston told us this happened in the sanctuary city of Somerville on Thursday. The murderer was close to a school. An activist later posted a video, boasting that they got ICE to leave the area, and that they were ‘trying to kidnap kids from school’. They shielded a killer,” Melugin wrote.

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Hyper woke ‘sanctuary city’ mayor’s re-election campaign derailed after sordid love triangle ends in ‘violence’

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s re-election campaign has been derailed after a sordid love triangle in her hyper-woke administration allegedly ended in violence.

Two City Hall employees Marwa Khudaynazar, 27, and Chulan Huang, 26, were fired after facing domestic violence charges from an alleged cheating scandal involving a third unnamed city official.

But critics are now demanding answers over whey another high-ranking official named in the dispute was allowed to keep their job.

Khudaynazar, former chief of staff at the Office of Police Accountability and Transparency, and Huang, former neighborhood liaison for Downtown, Chinatown, and the Leather District, were arrested last Thursday.

They were both charged with assault and battery on a household member, while Khudaynazar was also charged with assault and battery on a police officer, according to court documents first reported by the Boston.

Both pleaded not guilty.

Khudaynazar allegedly told officers she suspected her boyfriend of a year was having an affair, so she went on a date with his own boss earlier that night. She then allegedly showed up at his apartment to gloat about her betrayal.

Huang, who lives at the apartment where the dispute took place, allegedly told officers, ‘She went on a date with my boss’, adding ‘they booked a hotel and she came here to rub it in my face’.

City Councilor Ed Flynn and mayoral candidate Josh Kraft have called for Segun Idowu, chief of economic opportunity and inclusion who oversees the department where Huang worked, to be terminated. 

Kraft is now demanding Wu release her internal investigation report that allegedly cleared other city workers of wrongdoing.

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Republican Governor Kelly Ayotte Signs Bill Banning Sanctuary Cities in the State of New Hampshire

New Hampshire’s Republican Governor Kelly Ayotte has signed a bill that bans so-called ‘sanctuary cities’ in the Granite State, in direct contrast to her neighbors to the south in Massachusetts, and to the east in Maine.

All of New England is fairly liberal, but New Hampshire has a reputation for maybe not being conservative but definitely having a libertarian streak.

Ayotte actually ran on the sentiment embodied in this new law.

NBC News in Boston reported:

House Bill 511 and Senate Bill 62 ban sanctuary cities and support cooperation between state and local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.

During her campaign for governor last year, Ayotte used a “Don’t Mass it up” slogan to rail against more liberal Massachusetts to the south, including a pledge to ban sanctuary cities, which limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

Ayotte’s office put out this press release:

Sanctuary Cities Banned in New Hampshire

Today, Governor Kelly Ayotte signed House Bill 511 and Senate Bill 62 to ban sanctuary cities and support cooperation between state and local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.

Governor Ayotte released the following statement after signing both bills into law:

“I said from the beginning that we won’t let our state go the way of Massachusetts and their billion-dollar illegal immigrant crisis. Today, we’re delivering on our promise by banning sanctuary cities and supporting law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration authorities. New Hampshire will never be a sanctuary for criminals, and we will keep working every day to remain the safest state in the nation.”

This was a smart move.

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Massachusetts City Manager Blocks Police from Working with ICE

The City Manager of Worcester, Massachusetts, has issued an executive order banning his police department and other city agencies from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Manager Eric Batista’s executive order came on the heels of the release of police body cam footage of the arrest of Rosane Ferreira-De Oliveira, who attempted to interfere in the legal actions by ICE agents.

Batista issued the order on May 16 to warn city officials and members of the city’s police department against working with ICE. The order states that “municipal employees shall not participate in an operation led by a federal agency solely for the enforcement of federal civil immigration laws.”

Employees, the order says, “shall not inquire about immigration status nor shall immigration status impact the treatment of a resident, victim, suspect, arrestee, 911 caller, or other member of the public with whom a Municipal employee has contact.”

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