Irvington Mayor Brian C. Smith started out as a Republican. Then he reinvented his ticket as the Irvington First party. Now it turns out that Irvington First means illegal aliens first.
Since Irvington has received plenty of Federal funding, they're doing what so many other sanctuary cities are doing, including Los Angeles, by playing word games. But a sanctuary city is what it is.
Irvington’s Board of Trustees unanimously adopted a resolution stating that its law enforcement officials will “not engage in activities solely for the purpose of enforcing federal immigration laws” and “not honor detainer requests” from immigration enforcement agencies without judicial warrant.
The language used in the resolution was originally crafted by village resident and attorney David Imamura for a group calling itself Irvington Activists. It was further refined by Village Attorney Marianne Stecich, who incorporated guidelines issued by New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman...
Attorney Lauri Regan, returned several times to the microphone to challenge the resolution. Regan also submitted a three-page, single-spaced letter to Mayor Brian C. Smith and four trustees outlining her case for rejecting the document. By adopting it, she argued, the village would be protecting criminals and thus endangering the lives of citizens. Moreover, she asserted, by flouting federal law, Irvington would risk forfeiting federal funding and subject itself to lawsuits, suggesting at one point that she herself might bring legal action...
While leftists congratulate themselves by making public commitments to violating the law, the acid test for such measures will be what happens when Federal funding is on the line.
President Trump has made it clear that those parts of the country that choose to violate Federal law, especially when it comes to immigration, will face the appropriate action. Obama took steps to penalize those areas which attempted to enforce immigration law. Trump has far better cause for those places like Irvington that choose to defy it. Particularly when it comes to emergency services funding.
Mayor Smith and the trustees that chose to endanger Irvington will discover that budgets speak louder than their word games.