Declaring “A border is only a line on a map” and comparing immigration enforcement to Nazi Germany and terrorism, House Democrats voted overwhelmingly against a ban on sanctuary cities during Thursday’s budget debate.
It’s a remarkable double reversal for Granite State Democrats on the issue of immigration enforcement.
In February, political observers were stunned when, after years of insisting New Hampshire has no sanctuary cities and that Republicans were whipping up racist fears by pushing the legislation, House Democrats overwhelmingly joined the GOP to pass a sanctuary city ban by a vote of 351-6.
The assumption was that, with polls showing a majority of voters — including a majority of Democrats — supporting increased immigration enforcement and the electoral success Republicans have enjoyed from the immigration issue, Democrats were moving to the center.
But during Thursday’s vote on the House budget, Democrats were back at “No Person Is Illegal,” with all but three voting against the same proposal they just backed.
The vote was over an amendment to HB511 added at the request of county government officials regarding the mandate that they hold illegal aliens with detainers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for up to 48 hours.
“The amendment is taking (the requirement) from ‘every single county can hold ICE detainees up to 48 hours’ to just those county correctional facilities that choose to enter into an agreement with the federal government to hold ICE detainees,” the bill’s author, Rep. Joe Sweeney (R-Salem), told the House.
But Democrats shrugged off the details to declare their opposition to New Hampshire playing any role in immigration enforcement.
“If there’s one thing that we can all agree on, it is that our immigration system is broken, and we need to fix it,” said Rep. Chris Muns (D-Hampton). “Securing our border must certainly be part of that. But let’s not forget that our border does not define who we are as a country.
“A border is only a line on a map. What truly defines us are the values and the principles we hold dear in the United States.”
Muns recounted how his parents came to the U.S. from the Netherlands and how his father had to hide from the Nazis as “the German army began to round up young Dutch men and send them to Germany to work in factories and live in work camps.” Eventually, he said, his father was picked up and sent to work in a factory.
“My parents immigrated to the United States in 1953 because they knew they would never have to fear being treated that way in the United States,” Muns said.
Muns acknowledged that he originally voted for HB511, but he’s against it now.
“If because of my vote in favor of this amendment, sometime in the future, someone living in New Hampshire is picked up off the street and taken to a detention center far from his or her home without any due process… I cannot vote in favor of this amendment.”
Rep. David Meuse (D-Portsmouth) went even further, arguing that illegal immigrants are victims of “state terrorism” who love America and have a right to be here.
“What we are doing is putting our stamp of approval… on a federal policy that allows the innocent as well as the guilty, to be demonized, rounded up, and caged with little or no regard for due process,” said Meuse, who also voted for the bill in February.
“What this bill does under the guise of enabling New Hampshire law enforcement to support federal immigration efforts is to make our state a willing accomplice in a politically manufactured campaign of state terrorism against a group of people, the vast majority of whom came here not to victimize America, but because they love America.”
Sweeney disagreed.
“If you are in this nation illegally, you should not have sanctuary in the state of New Hampshire, and they should not feel welcome in the state of New Hampshire.”
The sanctuary city ban passed 211-161.
