With President Donald Trump coming down hard on sanctuary cities, and California as a whole, the New York assembly is attempting a show of resistance by passing a bill that would make New York a "sanctuary state" in the same vein as California. New York Democrats, such as Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, have said the bill was a "moral obligation."
Labeling it the “New York State Liberty Act,” the bill seeks to hamper the efforts of state and local law officers from enforcing immigration laws, as well as collecting immigration information from people reporting accidents, according to Politico.
“It is our job to respond to his call to build border walls with a wall of our own, one that protects diversity and acceptance that have always been at the core of our state,” Assemblyman Francisco Moya, a Democrat from Queens, said a press conference announcing the measure. “Not only is it a moral imperative to shelter every race or religion from bigotry, it is our obligation to protect the function of our local law enforcement and agencies."
Republicans, such as Assemblyman Dean Murray, stand against the bill wholeheartedly.
“We pass laws for a reason — we pass laws to protect the public. Now we’re asking our local law enforcement to just completely ignore some of those laws,” he said. “That’s a problem. This is a matter of law. We need to allow law enforcement to work together to enforce all laws.”
The bill passed with a 77-58, however it considered more a statement than an actual attempt at legislation, as it is not expected to survive the Republican led senate.
“We know it is never going to pass the other house, but it looks good in the paper,” Graf said. “But we’ve seen the actions of this new president, and I don’t think he’s bluffing when it comes to taking away federal money from the states. So if we’re playing with a third of our revenues, we could face a lot of problems here.”
If the bill did in any way pass the senate, the state of New York would be under threat from Trump who has said he would defund the entire state of California for doing the same.
