Battenfeld: Trump takeover clock ticking on illegal immigration in Massachusetts
The Trump takeover clock is counting down.
Lenient left wing governors and lax DAs and sheriffs in Massachusetts who have refused to cooperate with federal immigration officers have less than a week to change their tune before Donald Trump takes office and seeks punishment.
Prime targets like Democratic Gov. Maura Healey, Boston Mayor Michele Wu and Middlesex DA Marian Ryan should prepare for Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown and possible withholding of federal funds to elected officials who aren’t cooperating.
The confrontation is likely to come within days of Trump taking office next Monday, when the new administration will be looking to make examples of cities and states and their far left sanctuary policies.
Trump has repeatedly made it clear that illegal immigration will be his priority on day one.
Healey is already scurrying to moderate her liberal stances in the wake of several damaging scandals that have exposed the state’s shelter system as riddled with crime and dangerous conditions for homeless families to live in.
The governor has launched an independent review of the shelter system and has said she’s interested in revisiting the state shelter law’s intent.
The actions came after top Republicans blasted her oversight and her administration’s failure to do criminal background checks on shelter inhabitants, even though she says she did ask for the CORI checks.
Her shockingly lax leadership on the immigration issue would surely make her vulnerable to a political challenge and even a recall if Massachusetts weren’t such a blue state.
As of now, she has no opponents from the left or right willing to take her on next year, though that could change if a moderate Democrat has the guts to launch a challenge from her own party.
Philanthropist Josh Kraft, son of Patriots owner Robert Kraft, would have a better chance of unseating Healey in a statewide race than running against incumbent Democrat Wu in Boston.
Healey has a lot of explaining to do of voters who thought they were electing a competent moderate but who has turned out to be tone deaf and purely political.
Wu, another would be progressive star on the national stage, is also facing consequences for refusing to honor ICE detainer requests, though it’s hard to know how many because of the city of Boston’s stonewalling and gamesmanship with public record requests.
And far left Middlesex DA Marian Ryan has still not explained why the father of a migrant girl was never arrested for allegedly repeatedly raping his daughter staying at a state shelter in Marlboro. He was simply transferred to another shelter instead.
The overall picture of the migrant crisis in Massachusetts is not pretty and ripe for Trump to make the liberal state and its cities and elected leaders pay for their sanctuary practices.
Massachusetts, which is spending about a billion dollars a year on migrants, can ill afford to sustain any federal funding cuts on food or housing or shelter.
President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago, last week in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)