It was the culmination of months of relentless attacks by President Donald Trump and his allies, and it sets up further moves by the administration \u2014 including Vice President JD Vance\u2019s trip to the southern border Wednesday afternoon \u2014 to keep Democrats in a defensive crouch on the issue.<\/p>\n

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee grilled the chief executives of Boston, Chicago, Denver and New York City on the heels of Trump\u2019s victory lap in his joint address to Congress Tuesday evening. There, he proclaimed that his administration had begun \u201cthe most sweeping border and immigration crackdown in American history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mirroring the administration\u2019s language, Republicans in Congress pulled out isolated incidents of violence by undocumented immigrants to make their case that cities with sanctuary status should open their jails to federal authorities \u2014 despite the mayors saying there\u2019s no law requiring local authorities to coordinate with U.S. immigration officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cSanctuary cities make us all less safe and are a public safety nightmare,\u201d said House Oversight Chair James Comer<\/a> (R-Ky.). \u201cWe cannot let pro-criminal alien policies [and] obstructionist sanctuary cities continue to endanger American communities and the safety of federal immigration enforcement officers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democrats countered with nuanced, at times convoluted, legal arguments about where the authority, and responsibility, to deal with the immigration issue lies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe welcoming city ordinance is pretty straightforward \u2014 it allows for our local law enforcement to focus on local policies,\u201d said Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, of his own city\u2019s sanctuary city policies that protect undocumented residents.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the events of this week show how Democrats are writhing under the heavy boot of the GOP on immigration, a major electoral issue on which the left has had trouble gaining traction \u2014 even as the Trump administration has pursued unpopular efforts like ending birthright citizenship and allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement to make arrests in schools and churches.<\/p>\n

During Wednesday\u2019s roughly six-hour hearing, Massachusetts Rep. Stephen Lynch<\/a>, a Democrat, acknowledged that lawmakers were having a hard time coming up with comprehensive immigration policy given Congress\u2019 responsibilities to regulate immigration and the cities\u2019 own authorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re struggling with this right now \u2014 there\u2019s a tension between that authority of Congress to act under Article I of the Constitution, and then your responsibility, nobly taken, to provide a safe environment for the residents and visitors to your cities,\u201d Lynch said to the mayors. \u201cHow do we reconcile? And I\u2019m asking you for advice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mayors had few, if any, answers. Instead, they punted it back to the Republican lawmakers, including by imploring Congress to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill.<\/p>\n

“Respectfully, congressman, you could pass bipartisan legislation and that would be comprehensive immigration law,\u201d Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said in response to a line of questioning from Rep. Paul Gosar<\/a> (R-Ariz.). \u201cThe false narrative is that immigrants in general are criminals, or immigrants in general cause all sorts of danger and harm. That is actually what is undermining safety in our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

$\"Boston$ <\/p>\n