Republicans in Congress Set to Grill Democratic Governors on Immigration
Congressional Republicans are set on Thursday to question three Democratic governors about their states' immigration policies, amplifying a partisan clash as President Trump continues a showdown with California officials and anti-deportation protests spread across the country.
The three governors — Tim Walz of Minnesota, J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and Kathy Hochul of New York — were called to testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform long before the unrest in Los Angeles, which began last week with protests over workplace raids and escalated after Mr. Trump sent Marines and National Guard troops to the city.
But House Republicans are all but certain to point to the scenes of violent clashes in California and elsewhere as they seek to vilify Democratic officials over immigration policies that Mr. Trump and his allies in Congress claim shield criminals.
Democrats have remained divided over their party's stance on immigration enforcement; some recent polls have shown them to be politically vulnerable on the issue compared to Republicans. But they are united in their efforts to cast Mr. Trump's large-scale immigration crackdown and deployment of troops as an abuse of presidential power and a violation of the Constitution.
Thursday's hearing reflects a larger Republican effort to harness voters' anxieties over immigration and crime for political gains. Mr. Trump during his campaign last year broadly depicted undocumented immigrants as violent and dangerous, blaming Democrats for encouraging a 'migrant crime wave' that was contradicted by statistics.
Earlier this year, the president issued executive orders targeting so-called sanctuary cities, jurisdictions that limit their cooperation with federal immigration authorities or have policies explicitly intended to protect undocumented immigrants against detention or deportation. One order directs the withholding of federal funds from cities and counties that do not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement efforts.
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