In a statement published Friday, the Department of Justice blasted New York City officials for pursuing policies that endangered their citizens and allowed criminals to have the run of the city. The statement, which also warned of soft policies in other sanctuary city jurisdictions, drew an immediate and harsh response from Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD Commissioner James O’Neil…but support from at least one New York City police union.
“The number of murders in Chicago has skyrocketed, rising more than 50 percent from the 2015 levels,” said the DOJ’s statement. “New York City continues to see gang murder after gang murder, the predictable consequence of the city’s ‘soft on crime’ stance. And just several weeks ago in California’s Bay Area, after a raid captured 11 MS-13 members on charges including murder, extortion and drug trafficking, city officials seemed more concerned with reassuring illegal immigrants that the raid was unrelated to immigration than with warning other MS-13 members that they were next.”
Later in the day, O’Neil and de Blasio spoke at a press conference, where they rejected the Trump administration’s assessment of their policies.
“It is unacceptable, it is outrageous and it is absurd,” De Blasio said.
But Ed Mullins, the president of the NYPD’s Sergeants Benevolent Association, said Attorney General Jeff Sessions was right on the money with his critique.
“Sessions is absolutely correct to hold New York and other jurisdictions accountable for their so-called ‘sanctuary policies,’” Mullins said. “For a long time, Mayor De Blasio and the NYPD’s leadership have failed to heed the warning that refusing to cooperate with federal immigration officials when it comes to criminals and suspected terrorists would have consequences beyond making our City less safe. They have placed officers in an impossible Catch-22: between obeying the directives and orders of their superiors and elected officials on one hand, and the obligation they feel to follow the direction of the law and to cooperate with federal immigration officials on the other.”
New York City is trying to make this look like a divide between the Trump administration and beat cops, but it’s clear that the real division is between the cops in these cities and the liberal leadership they work under. These cops want to do what’s best for their cities, and the Trump administration wants to help them do their jobs. If these bleeding-heart Democrats would get out of the way, everyone – except, perhaps, criminal aliens – would be a lot better off.
