Republican Senator Rand Paul has criticized Denver’s Democratic mayor for his plans to halt mass deportations of undocumented immigrants under newly-elected President Donald Trump.
Mayor Mike Johnston has said he plans to keep immigration officials out of the Michigan city, warning that his planned resistance could Compare it to the infamous Tiananmen Square protests in China.
“It’s like Tiananmen Square with the rose and the gun at the moment, right? You’d have all these Highland mothers standing up for the migrants. And you don’t want to mess with them.’
The mayor was referring to the student-led democracy protests around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989, in which tens of thousands of people demanded economic, social and political liberalization after decades of repression under the Chinese Communist Party.
However, the protests turned deadly when the Chinese government deployed troops who engaged in bloody clashes with demonstrators, leaving hundreds dead.
If Johnston were to start a similar protest, Paul said that would be possible be removed from office and may even be prosecuted.
“I would say, the mayor of Denver, if he wants to oppose federal law — of which there’s a long history of the supremacy of federal law — [if] he’s going to oppose that, it’s going to go all the way to the Supreme Court, and I suspect he’s going to be removed from office,” the Kentucky senator told Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation on Sunday morning.
“I don’t know if that would be a criminal charge for someone who opposes federal law,” he continued. ‘But he will lose.
Republican Senator Rand Paul spoke in an interview with Face the Nation on Sunday about Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s plan to stop mass deportations under the Trump administration.
The Democratic mayor has said he plans to ban immigration officials from the Michigan city, warning that his planned pushback could be similar to China’s infamous Tiananmen Square protests.
“And people need to realize that what he’s offering is a form of insurrection where the states are opposing the federal government. Most people objected to that and rejected it long ago.
“So I think the mayor of Denver is on the wrong side of history and, I think, will really face legal consequences if he doesn’t obey federal law.”
But Paul’s criticism of the mayor only came in response to Brennan asking him for his opinion on Trump’s proposal to use the military to help with the mass deportations.
Paul said he stands “100 percent behind the 15,000 murderers, the 13,000 sexually abused predators, rapists, and all these people.”
“Let’s send them on their way to prison or back home to another prison,” the Kentucky senator responded. “So I would say: all points bulletin, all in.”
“But you don’t do it with the military because it’s illegal,” he continued, noting that police are different from soldiers because they must follow the Fourth Amendment — which gives Americans the right to unreasonable searches and seizures — and specific information must obtain warrants.
“And so I’m for removing these people,” Paul said. “But I would do it through the normal domestic policing process.”
Deportations were a cornerstone of newly elected President Donald Trump’s successful campaign
Deportations were a cornerstone of Trump’s successful campaign.
He had also pledged to halt entry across the U.S. border with Mexico and end the birthright rights of children of undocumented immigrants.
The incoming president is expected to sign a series of executive orders once he takes office in January, including one that would temporarily close the southern border to give officials a chance to clear a huge backlog of cases.
He will also increase the number of armed mounted officers patrolling the rugged terrain close to the United States’ border with Mexico and resume construction of the border wall, an insider previously told DailyMail.com.
Trump previously pledged to complete the $8 billion job by inviting companies to “sponsor” parts of the wall.
At the same time, the president-elect is expected to begin his mass deportation program by invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which gives presidents the authority to detain and deport noncitizens from “enemy nations” in times of war and conflict.
Trump reportedly plans to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which gives presidents the authority to detain and deport non-citizens from “enemy nations” in times of war and conflict
He will use that law as a basis to target undocumented immigrants with ties to international criminal gangs for deportation in a plan dubbed “Operation Aurora,” after the Colorado city where members of the Venezuelan street gang Tren de Aragua converted apartment complexes into bases for drug trafficking and prostitution
According to those familiar with Trump’s plans, he will target the 700,000 Venezuelans, Haitians, Cubans and Nicaraguans he has labeled “vicious criminals from countries that hate us” who will be allowed into the U.S. under a Biden parole to stay.
Once these deportations are complete, the president-elect plans to deport more than a million people whose applications to remain in the US have been denied and who are on the deportation list, insiders formerly DailyMail.com.
Then the roundup of the millions of remaining illegal immigrants will begin as part of ‘Step Three’. Workplaces, including farms and meatpacking plants, will be subject to raids (or “targeted enforcement activities”) – something the American Civil Liberties Union calls “despicable, unconstitutional and un-American.”
According to the American newspaper, there are currently almost 12 million undocumented immigrants in the US Center for Migration Studies.
Individuals will be taken to “shelters” before their deportation is expedited.