During a portion of an interview with the Fox News Channel aired on Monday’s broadcast of “Hannity,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) responded to a question on whether he’s violating federal law by designating California as a sanctuary state on immigration by stating that states and cities have been sanctuaries for a long time and California is only a sanctuary state because it has to be.
Host Sean Hannity asked, “By characterizing the state as [a] sanctuary, aren’t you thereby violating federal law, the laws that are on the books, and that our own Constitution states very unequivocally that, in fact, you should be following?”
Newsom responded, “These sanctuary policies have been on the books for decades. Cities, Democratic cities, Republican-led cities in the past, Democratic states, clearly, a more modern conception around dealing with reality, the cards that are dealt. You want people that are victims of crime to come forward and report those crimes. That’s the purpose of sanctuary. You want a kid to be educated that’s here, regardless of how they got here, you want that kid educated, you want to take care of someone that’s in an emergency and not have them concerned that they’re going to be deported by a nurse. The point is, you deal with reality. But look, I stipulate, I’m happy to get rid of those protections by doing the hard work of actually coming together as a nation across our differences and support[ing] comprehensive reform and moderniz[ing] our asylum system and moderniz[ing] our immigration system. This issue will only get worse. It’s not just a border issue is the point.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.