If New Hampshire passes a ban on sanctuary cities, it could be a “slippery slope” to seeing young people “picked up off the street” and “taken to a camp” like in Nazi Germany.
That’s according to state Rep. Chris Muns (D-Hampton), who told his fellow members of the House Finance Committee that’s what happened to his father. And, he fears, America’s government might start doing the same.
Muns made his comments as the committee considered HB511, a ban on sanctuary policies in New Hampshire that passed the full House by a 351-6 vote. Muns said he was one of those 351, but not anymore.
“I am not a lawyer, but I have been told by people who are that being in the country without proper documentation is not a crime,” Muns said Tuesday. “I do not believe that this legislature should take any action that suggests, encourages, or sanctions that it is all right for any jurisdiction to hold individuals who have not been charged of a crime in any of our criminal correctional facilities for any length of time.”
While entering the U.S. without permission is a crime — as is working here and collecting government benefits, among other things — unlawful presence is a civil, not criminal, violation. Federal immigration agencies often ask local law enforcement who have arrested an illegal alien on an unrelated crime to detain them until a federal agent can take them into custody as part of the enforcement process.
New Hampshire communities such as Hanover, Lebanon, and Peterborough have ordered their law enforcement officers not to cooperate with immigration enforcement. The bill would ban those policies.
“I am concerned that we will be taking the first step down a very slippery slope that will end up making it far too easy for us and our federal partners to deprive our friends, family members, and neighbors of their fundamental rights and what it means to live in the United States of America,” Muns added.
“When my father was 16 years old, he was taken from his home and forced to work in a labor camp in Nazi Germany. I could not live with myself if my vote in favor of this (bill) led to some 16-year-old being picked off the street in New Hampshire and taken to one of our jails or a detention camp far from his home.”
Rep. Jess Edwards (R-Auburn) did not appreciate the comparison.
“As a 33-year combat veteran of the army, I resent any implication that we behave like Nazi Germany,” Edwards said.
“I would also say that anyone who’s got an ICE detainer probably has already begun the due process and that if we care about the safety and efficiency of our ICE agents — the human beings who do our enforcement for us — we will make it as simple and as safe as we can for them so that they can execute what the American public voted for in November. And that is to unwind four years of massive abuse of our immigration laws.”
House Majority Leader Rep. Jason Osborne, also an Auburn Republican, said Muns is the one proposing a dangerous policy.
“The Representative seems incredibly willing to take the first step down a very slippery slope that will lead to making it easy for murderers and rapists to walk freely among us, depriving our friends and family members of their fundamental rights.”
The amended HB 511 passed the House Finance Committee in a 14-11 party-line vote.
