NYC Mayor Refuses to Relinquish List of Undocumented
Immigrants, by Alice Greene, 11/12/16
Donald
Trump has repeatedly promised to start deporting illegal immigrants during his
first months in office. Early on in his campaign, the billionaire promised
to create a “deportation task force” within ICE to locate and remove the 11
million illegals currently living in the US. Trump later softened his stance,
explaining that his initial plans would be “focused on identifying and quickly removing
the most dangerous criminal illegal aliens in America.”
Speaking
at a news conference on Wednesday, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that he
would not be handing over the city’s database of undocumented immigrants
without a “real fight.” The alleged database contains the identities of more
than 850,000 immigrants currently living in New York. These individuals have a
“city municipal ID card,” but do not have legal immigration status.
The
IDNYC card, first offered in 2015, is free and official proof of one’s
identity. Applicants are not required
to disclose their immigration status to obtain a card. The IDNYC
card database includes names, dates of birth, and addresses. “It cannot be
disclosed to federal law enforcement or immigration authorities without
permission from the city’s human resources administration,” reports CNN.
Trump
“can change some federal laws, but the Constitution protects a lot of the
rights and powers of localities,” said de Blasio. The mayor insisted that
“personal privacy is going to be respected” and cited a provision of the ID law
that would allow him to scrub the entire list by the end of the year.
“As
you know, there’s been an ongoing plan regardless of any electoral activity how
long records are kept. Given this new reality we’re certainly going to assess
how we should handle it,” de Blasio added. When asked about Trump’s plans to
cut off funding to sanctuary cities – such as NYC – de Blasio replied, “We will
do everything we know how to resist that.”
Trump
and de Blasio have never enjoyed a positive relationship. The mayor has accused
Trump of being a racist and a fascist, and the billionaire has stated the de
Blasio is “probably the worst mayor in the history of NYC.”
De
Blasio changed his tune slightly after Trump’s victory on Tuesday, telling his
audience at City Hall that he would “happily invite him [Trump] to dinner to
have a conversation.”
“I
take his platform and his vision very seriously,” continued de Blasio. “And I
think it’s in many ways very dangerous. That being said, one has the distinct
impression that some of that was just for show. So we’re going to find
out.”
Editor's note: The federal government doesn't need de
Blasio's cooperation, but the withholding of federal funds for "sanctuary
cities" will be very real. Trump will win that fight.
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