{"id":59305,"date":"2018-05-16T16:45:12","date_gmt":"2018-05-16T23:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.46.6.243\/?p=59305"},"modified":"2018-05-16T16:45:12","modified_gmt":"2018-05-16T23:45:12","slug":"president-trump-at-a-california-sanctuary-state-roundtable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=59305","title":{"rendered":"President Trump at a California Sanctuary State Roundtable"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;Good afternoon.  I\u2019m greatly honored to be here with the courageous mayors and sheriffs and local leaders from across the state of California.  A great state.  Each of you has bravely resisted California\u2019s deadly and unconstitutional sanctuary state laws.  You\u2019ve gone through a lot, too, although it\u2019s becoming quite popular what you\u2019re doing.  A law that forces the release of illegal immigrant criminals, drug dealers, gang members, and violent predators into your communities.  California\u2019s law provides safe harbor to some of the most vicious and violent offenders on Earth, like MS-13 gang members putting innocent men, women, and children at the mercy of these sadistic criminals.  But we\u2019re moving them out of this country by the thousands.  MS-13, we\u2019re grabbing them by the thousands and we\u2019re getting them out, Kevin.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VMsiYUjta-s\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re also joined by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.  Jeff, thank you.  The Secretary of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen.  Secretary, thank you very much.  I know you folks are keeping busy, right?  Keeping busy at those borders.  And Deputy ICE Director, Tom Homan, who\u2019s going to be leaving us soon for a life of retirement.  But there\u2019s no such thing as retirement for Tom.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ve done a fantastic job, and we appreciate it very much, Tom.  Incredible job.<\/p>\n<p>HOMAN:  I\u2019m not leaving the fight, sir.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  I know that.  Oh, you\u2019ll never leave the fight.  No, you\u2019ll always be in.<\/p>\n<p>Also with us is House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who\u2019s been a special friend of mine.  He represents California\u2019s 23rd Congressional District, and he is very, very popular.  And I just recently saw a poll of Kevin.  I think the opposition might as well just go home, because Kevin, they love him out there and he\u2019s done an incredible job.  He\u2019s brought it home.  And we appreciate it, Kevin, the great job you\u2019ve done for the country.  Thank you very much.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, Congress \u2014 and I\u2019d have to say, congressional Democrats \u2014 you take a look at what has been going on and what\u2019s going on with the laws, whether it\u2019s catch and release, whether it\u2019s any of the things that we\u2019re fighting for so hard.<\/p>\n<p>Now, we have started the wall.  We\u2019re spending $1.6 billion between fixing and starting.  You know, Melissa, what\u2019s been going on.  We\u2019re getting it up.  We have a lot of folks in California, they don\u2019t talk about it, but they want the wall up, and they\u2019re very happy.  That\u2019s one of the reasons we started in California.  But we made a lot of progress on it, and now we\u2019re going for the full funding for the wall, and we\u2019re going to try and get that as soon as possible.  But it\u2019s become a very popular issue.<\/p>\n<p>In January, the Los Angeles Police Department arrested an illegal immigrant from Mexico for drug possession.  Instead of honoring the ICE detainer, they set him free.  Just a few weeks later, he was arrested again, this time for murder.  So they arrested him, they had him, they let him go.  Tom, you\u2019ve seen this.  They let him go, and he killed somebody.  And it\u2019s happening more and more.  And we get them out as fast as we can.  We have the worst laws anywhere in the world for illegal immigration.  There\u2019s no place in the world that has laws like we do.<\/p>\n<p>Catch and release \u2014 think of it.  We catch somebody, we find out they\u2019re criminals.  We end up having to release them, and they go into our society.  Now, we do the best we can, I\u2019ll tell you.  We do better than anybody.  And our numbers are much better than in the past, but they\u2019re not nearly acceptable and not nearly as good as what we could have.  We\u2019re down 40 percent from those other standards, so that\u2019s really good \u2014 meaning 40 percent crossings.  So that\u2019s good.  But we can do \u2014 we can do much better.<\/p>\n<p>Part of the problem that we have is our economy is so strong that people are pouring up to get into our economy.  They want a piece of our economy.  And that makes the job even tougher.  But we want to keep \u2014 we want people based on merit.  We want people to come into our country based on merit.  We\u2019re not looking to keep them out.  We\u2019re looking to bring them in.  We need them.  We have companies moving back into the United States like never before.  Chrysler is opening up now in Michigan.  We have so many companies actually coming from Mexico, even, and coming back in.  So we want people coming in based on merit.<\/p>\n<p>We all remember the tragic case of Marilyn Farris who was murdered by an illegal immigrant who had been arrested six times prior to breaking into Marilyn\u2019s home, raping her and savagely beating her to death with a hammer.<\/p>\n<p>And this is one example, but there are many examples.  I\u2019ve been saying it for a long time.  We cannot let this butchery happen in America.<\/p>\n<p>The state of California\u2019s attempts to nullify federal law have sparked a rebellion by patriotic citizens who want their families protected and their borders secured.  They want border security.  They want protection.  That\u2019s what we\u2019re all about.  We\u2019re about protection, both from international and from, frankly, people crossing our border illegally.<\/p>\n<p>I will now go around the room and ask these incredible mayors and officials to discuss their brave stand on behalf of their constituents.  They are very popular, they are very well respected.  These are the top people.  And they are people that other people listen to, and they listen to them from around the country.<\/p>\n<p>So I\u2019ll begin by asking California Assemblywoman, Melissa Melendez.  And you have been an inspiration to a lot of people, Melissa.  So maybe you could say a few words, and we\u2019ll go right around the room, okay?<\/p>\n<p>MELENDEZ:  Thank you, Mr. President.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>MELENDEZ:  I just want to start off by saying, on behalf of everyone here, thank you for inviting us.  There are more people in California, I think, that you know who support what you\u2019re doing, who believe in your agenda in securing our borders.  Everywhere in between, from San Francisco to Los Angeles, you have millions of people who want to see that our borders are secure and that our neighborhoods are safe.<\/p>\n<p>So we want to thank you for what you\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>MELENDEZ:  I have been in office in California for five years now, and it\u2019s interesting to me that you\u2019ve been in office for a year almost?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah.  Seventeen.  Seventeen months.  Seventeen years would be nice.  Seventeen.  (Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>MELENDEZ:  But you have invited us here to talk about this issue.  I\u2019ve been in office in California for five years.  Not once has Governor Brown invited any Republican to discuss this issue in California.  And it is a crisis.  That\u2019s the point we\u2019re at in California.  It\u2019s a crisis.<\/p>\n<p>So for me and my constituents \u2014 and those are Democrats and Republicans and independents, alike, because I get emails from all of them \u2014 they don\u2019t want to see another Kate Steinle.  That\u2019s what I hear every single week.  They don\u2019t want to see another Kate Steinle.<\/p>\n<p>So when my husband and I talk about this issue, we have 37 years of service between the two of us.  We both served in the Navy.  That\u2019s where we met.  We know a lot about what it takes to protect our way of life, what it means to protect other people.  But we want to make sure that our citizens are protected.<\/p>\n<p>And I think the resistance that started in the Democrat Party, this is your Republican resistance right here against what they\u2019re doing in California.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  And beyond Republican.  I mean, this has really become a Democrat issue, a Republican issue.  I think a lot of the Democrat politicians don\u2019t understand what\u2019s going on.  Because it\u2019s actually good politically.  People want safety.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you very much.  I appreciate it.<\/p>\n<p>MELENDEZ:  Thank you, Mr. President.  Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Sam, go ahead.<\/p>\n<p>MAYOR ABED:  Thank you, Mr. President.  I am a proud immigrant here from Lebanon.  Thirty years ago, I came here to live the American Dream, and we did well.  Jerry Brown wants to take this American Dream from us.  I see myself \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  He\u2019ll going to be retired pretty soon, won\u2019t he?<\/p>\n<p>MAYOR ABED:  I hope so.<\/p>\n<p>MELENDEZ:  End of the year.  End of the year.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Somebody said he\u2019s going to run for President.  I said, \u201cPlease.  Please run.\u201d  (Laughter.)  But no, I think he\u2019s going to be retired, from what I understand, pretty soon.<\/p>\n<p>MAYOR ABED:  I see myself fighting for these values that made our country great, Mr. President.  We are aligned with your goals.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s the success story of Escondido.  When I was elected mayor in 2010, I made the agreement with ICE.  We brought eight ICE agents to Escondido, to our police station.  Since then, we deported over 2,700 illegal criminals from our city, and made Escondido as safe as it was in 1980.  This is a great success story, and our cooperation with ICE and the San Diego ICE is a very compelling model for the nation to follow.<\/p>\n<p>In our city, more immigrant people report crime.  And this narrative that sanctuary city will allow more immigrants to report crime is fake news, Mr. President.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Fake news.  Fake news.<\/p>\n<p>MAYOR ABED:  We are going \u2014 California is going down the drain.  It\u2019s going to be \u2014 sorry, Congressman McCarthy.  But California is the least business friendly, is the poorest city in the nation, the highest poverty rate, the highest taxes, you name it.  Instead of fixing the Golden State and making it the American Dream for everyone, they are dealing with illegal criminals.<\/p>\n<p>When Jerry Brown cares more about illegal criminals than he cares about the Hispanic community and the American citizens, this is insanity, and this is unconstitutional.  When I swore to be a citizen, and again as mayor, I swore to defend the Constitution and to keep my community safe.  This is personal to me.  I\u2019m going to work hard to make sure our community is safe.  Escondido is a great example of our success.  As a result of making Escondido safe, we brought $2 billion in investment to our city, and we outperformed San Diego County in economic growth.<\/p>\n<p>I am passionate about it.  When I go back to California, I\u2019m going to start a PAC.  And we\u2019re going to fight the fight.  We want to make sure if the Supreme Court does not repeal the sanctuary state, we\u2019re going to make sure the grassroot team like you see today, we will repeal that.  We are with you.  We need to build that wall.  We need to end the sanctuary state.  We had 11 sanctuary cities not too long ago.  Now we have 560.  Ten-thousand illegal criminals have been released under the sanctuary cities \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  But now it\u2019s reversing, Sam.  And it really got bad, and now it\u2019s reversing.  There\u2019s a big change of heart, of mind, of people don\u2019t want sanctuary cities.  They\u2019re dangerous; they don\u2019t want them anymore.<\/p>\n<p>So thank you, Sam.<\/p>\n<p>MAYOR ABED:  Most of the people support us, Mr. President.  Sixty-five percent of the Hispanics support us.  The liberal, the Democrat, everybody is supporting our \u2014 in my city, 90 percent are with us.  Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  And I\u2019ll tell you what, I had a lot more support in the state of California than people understand.  (Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>MELENDEZ:  That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Check the voting records, folks.  Please.<\/p>\n<p>MAYOR RUIZ:  I\u2019m Crystal from the city of San Jacinto.  Can I speak frankly?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Yes.<\/p>\n<p>MAYOR RUIZ:  I\u2019m sitting here in this room in awe of God\u2019s power; how He can take someone who was homeless in a tent, make them the mayor in the city, and bring them before the President of the United States of America who wants to hear the cry of our people.  And that\u2019s what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n<p>Our people are the ones hurting.  Sacramento is angry because they lost an election.  For God\u2019s sake, get over it.  They\u2019re angry.  And you know what?  Now we\u2019re more angry.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019re releasing these criminals, not by their houses.  They\u2019re not releasing them by their houses.  They\u2019re releasing them by our houses.  Our children are at risk.  My community is my family.  You\u2019re putting my family at risk.  Every day we\u2019re getting more and more reports from the police department about how they can\u2019t arrest these people.  They arrest them \u2014 everything is a misdemeanor.  Because it\u2019s not near Jerry Brown\u2019s house.  It\u2019s not near the elected official\u2019s house.  It\u2019s in our communities, and we\u2019re tired of it.<\/p>\n<p>We need help, Mr. President.  We need help protecting the city of San Jacinto, Escondido, the state of California.  All of us need help getting this solved.  I was just at a church the other day.  I was at my church, and I went over to another one \u2014 a Hispanic church \u2014 and all the people from the Hispanic church were out there, and they all came up to me: \u201cWould you tell Mr. Trump that we have a message for him: We want help.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>You see, every one of us came from somewhere else.  We all came from different countries.  My husband is from Mexico.  My family came way back from before the Revolutionary War, and we\u2019ve been fighting for this country ever since.  Fighting for the constitutional rights of our country.  I\u2019m not going to stop fighting for those rights.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Don\u2019t fight \u2014 look, it\u2019s coming back and it\u2019s coming back fast.  Faster than even the people in this room understand.  Kevin understands what\u2019s happening.  You see it, maybe, better than anybody.  But it\u2019s coming back.  People are tired of this nonsense, and it\u2019s happening.  So don\u2019t give up the fight.  Don\u2019t give up the fight.<\/p>\n<p>MAYOR RUIZ:  I\u2019m not, Mr. President.  You are our leader.  And thank God for you.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much.<\/p>\n<p>MAYOR RUIZ:  So bless you.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  And yours is an amazing story.<\/p>\n<p>MAYOR RUIZ:  Thank you, God.  Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  Sheriff?<\/p>\n<p>SHERIFF D\u2019AGOSTINI:  Thank you, Mr. President.  John D\u2019Agostini.  I\u2019m the elected Sherriff of El Dorado County, California.  And the bottom line from sheriffs \u2014 and you\u2019ll hear from my peers, as well \u2014 is we just want to do our jobs.  We want to do what the people elected us to do, and that is respect our Constitution and keep our communities safe.<\/p>\n<p>When this bill was being heard in legislature and it was going through \u2014 we have in California what we call \u201cleg days,\u201d where the state sheriffs go and meet with the legislators moving this bill through.  And what literally disgusted me was a common term that we heard throughout the discussion of SB 54 from different legislators.  And the quote was, \u201cWe know this is bad policy but it\u2019s great politics.\u201d  That\u2019s wrong.  Because this bill absolutely jeopardizes public safety in our communities.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re not immigration officers; we never have been, and we\u2019re never going to be.  We just want to be able to cooperate with our federal partners so that these folks that end up in our custody and need to be deported, get deported.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Well, Sheriff, I\u2019ll tell you what \u2014 it\u2019s not bad politics anymore.  You know, if you look at what\u2019s going on \u2014 because I think, maybe, more than anyplace else right now, there\u2019s a revolution going on in California.  They want safety.<\/p>\n<p>You know, you had the Mayor of Oakland that I read where you had 1,000 people \u2014 Tom, you know this because it was your deal \u2014 it had 1,000 people together.  Many of these were illegals.  They were criminals.  They were all sorts of \u2014 it was work.  And she informed them and they all fled, or most of them fled.  And that whole operation that took a long time to put together \u2014 I mean, you talk about obstruction of justice; I would recommend that you look into obstruction of justice for the Mayor of Oakland, California, Jeff.  She advises a thousand people.  They told, \u201cGet out of here, the law enforcement is coming.\u201d  And you worked on that long and hard.  And you got there, and there were very few people there.<\/p>\n<p>To me, that\u2019s obstruction of justice.  And perhaps the Department of Justice can look into that with respect to the mayor, because it\u2019s a big deal out there and a lot of people are very angry about what happened.  There\u2019s a lot of hard work and a lot of danger involved.  And that was a terrible thing.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, ma\u2019am.<\/p>\n<p>MAYOR JOHNSON:  Mr. President, Natasha Johnson, from the city of Lake Elsinore.  As the mayor, April 24th, we took a formal position and adopted a resolution opposing SB 54.  It was based on our constitutional duty to serve.  I think everyone in this room that is elected knows that public safety is their number-one priority.  But we can\u2019t say that we are public safety driven and also turn a blind eye to what is happening.<\/p>\n<p>There was courage and maybe a little risk.  We were not risk-averse to step out as one of the first cities to take a position.  I think I\u2019m more proud of the fact that we were just listening to what our community wanted \u2014 and they don\u2019t want it.  They clearly don\u2019t want to have an overreach of their rights.  And that\u2019s what really this stands for.<\/p>\n<p>So as far as the city of Lake Elsinore, I think that this is a siloed approach.  I think SB 54 is a very \u2014 is a great representation, and I think maybe some have forgotten, maybe especially Sacramento, about a siloed approach right before 9\/11.  And some of the things that we really can look back in history and see \u2014 it\u2019s going to take a multi-agency approach.  It\u2019s going to take coalition, a revolution, whatever you want to call it.  But I\u2019m completely impressed with the room and what we stand for.<\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t a fight.  This is a battle.  This is a war.  And I know that we have a lot of work to do.  This is just the beginning.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  We\u2019ll get it done.  Thank you very much.<\/p>\n<p>MAYOR JOHNSON:  Secretary Nielsen?  Would you like to say something?<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY NIELSEN:  Just \u2014 mostly just thanks.  I\u2019m want to thank you for your leadership, sir, in bringing us all together but in also recognizing what a very important issue this is.  And this week, as many of you know, we celebrate police week and we celebrate law enforcement.  Everyone in this room is an enforcer of the law, and I thank you for that and I thank you for your leadership.<\/p>\n<p>When states are turning their back on the U.S. Constitution and their communities, you are standing up.  And we greatly, greatly appreciate your partnership.<\/p>\n<p>I know Director Homan will give us more details on the dangers of sanctuary cities, which you\u2019re living, as do our officers and folks who work at ICE and other parts of the federal family.  But I just want to hear from you and just thank you.  Thank you for your partnership and for standing up for your communities.  Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  And you\u2019re doing a good job, and it\u2019s not an easy job.  I know what you\u2019re going through right now with families is very tough.  But those are the bad laws that the Democrats gave us.  We have to break up families.  The Democrats gave us that law.  It\u2019s a horrible thing.  We have to break up families.<\/p>\n<p>The Democrats gave us that law and they don\u2019t want to do anything about it.  They\u2019ll leave it like that because they don\u2019t want to make any changes.  And now you\u2019re breaking up families because of the Democrats.  It\u2019s terrible.<\/p>\n<p>MAYOR EDGAR:  Yeah.  How are you doing, there, President Trump?  I\u2019m Troy Edgar, Los Alamitos Mayor.  It\u2019s an honor to be here.<\/p>\n<p>You know, I just want to say, thank you for inviting us also to the residence earlier today.  You know, as a previous ex-Navy guy, and being able to be on a city council of a small city, it\u2019s people like you that are actually bringing the people back to the People\u2019s House \u2014 your house, our house.  So we really appreciate it.<\/p>\n<p>You know, going through, I also want to say thank you to Secretary Nielsen.  There\u2019s a gentleman in our community, Mark Cito (ph), who is on the local ICE officer in charge of Orange County.  When we came out, we were the first city.  He came, he called right away, he started giving me that bright line between where ICE has problems with local law enforcement.<\/p>\n<p>Secretary Nielsen, thank you.<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY NIELSEN:  Thanks to Director Homan.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, Troy.<\/p>\n<p>MAYOR EDGAR:  Yeah.  And then, Attorney General \u2014 you know, coming out first has a price to pay.  And the ACLU has filed a lawsuit against us.  You know, we would really appreciate any direct or indirect funding there \u2014 any sort of fiscal help that you could provide us \u2014 (laughter) \u2014 for, you know, things like potentially putting some of your Attorney General or Assistant Attorney Generals maybe, if they have the base in our military town, or helping us offset some of the costs.<\/p>\n<p>But we really appreciate everything that you\u2019re doing.  We also filed the amicus brief to kind of join, and we\u2019re going to plan on intersecting you at the appeals court.  One of you guys will appeal, and we think that we\u2019ll have a more substantive amount to offer at that point.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Maybe we could join in with you, though.  We could perhaps join in with you.  Because we have a lot of cases like that where we\u2019re with you 100 percent but we\u2019re not in paper.  So we\u2019ll join in with you.  If it\u2019s at all possible, we\u2019d like to do that.<\/p>\n<p>ATTORNEY GENERAL SESSIONS:  Thank you, Mr. President.  Yes.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Pam?  Thank you very much, Troy.<\/p>\n<p>PATTERSON:  So thank you, Mr. President.  It\u2019s an amazing honor to meet you, and thank you so much for the invitation.<\/p>\n<p>I served on San Juan Capistrano City Council for the last three years, but I\u2019ve also served on the community engagement panel of the San Onofre Nuclear Power plant, which is \u2014 they call it SONGS.  And they, back in 2001, were testifying before Congress that the terrorists were saying, \u201ctarget the power plants.\u201d  So the fact that we have this unsecure border is putting us \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Crazy.<\/p>\n<p>PATTERSON:  \u2014 at great risk because we know that terrorists are coming in.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  It\u2019s crazy.<\/p>\n<p>PATTERSON: But with respect to the power plant \u2014 that is number one \u2014 that has the worst safety record in the nation.  And one of the questions that I asked \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  It\u2019s a nuclear power plant?<\/p>\n<p>PATTERSON:  Yes.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  And the terrorists are coming in alongside of the power plant.PATTERSON:  Exactly.  And you \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Isn\u2019t that wonderful?  (Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>PATTERSON:  \u2014 can get in to that power plant with really \u2014 you can just drive in.  And so I asked them, actually, during one of the meetings \u2014 I said, \u201cSo you have a no-fly zone, right?\u201d \u2014 with respect to the power plant \u2014 and they said, \u201cYes.\u201d  And I said, \u201cSo what would happen if an airplane flew into the no-fly zone?  Would you shoot it down?\u201d  They said, \u201cNo.\u201d  And that was on the record.<\/p>\n<p>And so I just think that it\u2019s a Fukushima, number one, waiting to happen.  It\u2019s on an active earthquake fault, in a Tsunami zone, where they\u2019re storing this radiation which is 124 times that of Chernobyl, and improperly stored, and it\u2019s \u2014 there\u2019s no security.<\/p>\n<p>So I think that \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  We\u2019ll check it out.<\/p>\n<p>PATTERSON:  Okay.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  It doesn\u2019t sound too good.  (Laughter.)  It doesn\u2019t sound like the greatest, right?<\/p>\n<p>PATTERSON:  Exactly.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  We\u2019ll check it out.  Thank you very much.<\/p>\n<p>PATTERSON:  Okay, thank you.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Okay, Margaret?<\/p>\n<p>SHERIFF MIMS:  Thank you, Mr. President.  You know, sheriffs in California are now in an untenable position when it comes to trying to figure out \u2014 now, we have state law, we have federal laws, and here we are stuck in the middle.  Sheriffs, especially, because most of us run our county jails.<\/p>\n<p>When there became a legal challenge to the 48-hour holds for ICE, it was very frustrating for us.  So what I did is I invited ICE to put their officers in my jails so they\u2019re able to do their work.  We didn\u2019t have the staffing to be able to help figure out who they wanted to talk to or didn\u2019t.  I said, come on in, work with our people to keep our community safe.  Two weeks later, Mr. President, Kate Steinle was murdered.<\/p>\n<p>Now, I wasn\u2019t the only sheriff to do that.  Sheriff Youngblood did, Sheriff Christianson.  And it was perfect \u2014 because we didn\u2019t have to take our time, with our staff, to do anything.  ICE was in there doing their work in a safe, controlled, environment.  And then, the initiatives started happening \u2014 the TRUST Act, the TRUTH Act, and finally, SB 54, the Values Act.  And that is causing us all kinds of turmoil.<\/p>\n<p>So here we are, stuck in the middle, trying to decide.  We have federal law, we have state law.  And that\u2019s why I welcomed Attorney General Sessions\u2019s lawsuit, because that will provide us the clarity that we need and direction that we need.  What do we do?  Because here we are.<\/p>\n<p>And I appreciated Mr. Homan and ICE.  We had a great relationship; we still do.  But now ICE is the only law enforcement agency that cannot use our databases to find the bad guys.  They cannot come in and talk to people in our jail, unless they reach a certain threshold.  They can\u2019t do all kinds of things that other law enforcement agencies can do.  And it\u2019s really put us in a very bad position.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  It\u2019s a disgrace.  Okay?  It\u2019s a disgrace.<\/p>\n<p>SHERIFF MIMS:  It\u2019s a disgrace.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  And we\u2019re suing on that, and we\u2019re working hard, and I think it will all come together, because people want it to come together.  It\u2019s so ridiculous.  The concept that we\u2019re even talking about is ridiculous.  We\u2019ll take care of it, Margaret.  We\u2019ll win.<\/p>\n<p>SHERIFF MIMS:  Thank you.  There could be an MS-13 member I know about \u2014 if they don\u2019t reach a certain threshold, I cannot tell ICE about it.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  We have people coming into the country, or trying to come in \u2014 and we\u2019re stopping a lot of them \u2014 but we\u2019re taking people out of the country.  You wouldn\u2019t believe how bad these people are.  These aren\u2019t people.  These are animals.  And we\u2019re taking them out of the country at a level and at a rate that\u2019s never happened before.  And because of the weak laws, they come in fast, we get them, we release them, we get them again, we bring them out.  It\u2019s crazy.<\/p>\n<p>The dumbest laws \u2014 as I said before, the dumbest laws on immigration in the world.  So we\u2019re going to take care of it, Margaret.  We\u2019ll get it done.  We\u2019re going to ask that man right there, because that man can do it.  (Laughter.)  Right now he\u2019s the most important man in the room.  Kevin can do it.<\/p>\n<p>Kevin?  Please.<\/p>\n<p>MAJORITY LEADER MCCARTHY:  Well, first of all, I want to thank all of you, because most people around the country do not realize how your hands are tied behind your back.  The only thing you want to do is to have safe streets, safe neighborhoods, and protect your communities.  And for California legislature to go against the Constitution \u2014 one of the greatest strengths of this nation, and we\u2019re fortunate to be in this room, is the rule of law.  They are breaking down society by breaking down the rule of law; that you have a known criminal that you can\u2019t communicate with ICE about.<\/p>\n<p>We know how bad this is.  But from one aspect, we should be excited because we have a new President that understands this problem.  Since he has taken office, we have lowered the illegal crossings across this border.  That stops gang members from coming across.  He has started building the wall \u2014 $1.6 billion.  And you know where that wall is starting to be built?  In California.  He has pushed a number of bills through \u2014 one, to try to stop sanctuary cities; to reward those who uphold the Constitution.  Second, to stop the MS-13 gang members.  And you know what\u2019s interesting, after you moved that bill?  A Governor of New York, Mr. Cuomo, who thought that wasn\u2019t a problem, I saw him sign one similar just the other day because he watched what was happening, as well.<\/p>\n<p>So, collectively, it was city councils and sheriffs \u2014 city council is not your full-time job, but you listened to your community, you saw the problem that was going on.  So things are improving, and that\u2019s why I\u2019m so thankful for this President to call us together, because collectively we\u2019ll be stronger.  The Secretary is doing an amazing job.  I\u2019ll tell you, the number of times we meet or call at all hours of night, trying to make sure she can protect it.  The Attorney General just talked to me last night, around 10 o\u2019clock.<\/p>\n<p>And so, from that perspective, we are in this together, but we are in it for the Constitution.  We\u2019re in it for the security and the safety of our streets, and I thank you for leading the charge.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Well, we want to thank you, Kevin.  You have done an incredible job.  You\u2019re sort of going against the tide, but now the tide is sort of with us because you see it in the room.  I mean, a year ago, two years ago, this would have been unthinkable to have you all in the room talking the way we\u2019re talking.  But you\u2019re fed up with what\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n<p>And, Kevin, thank you very much.  You\u2019re doing really great<\/p>\n<p>Stacey.<\/p>\n<p>MONTGOMERY:  Thank you very much.  I just want to say thank you for your leadership in your office and on this issue.  I am delighted and privileged to be here.  And it is so wonderful to be here among all of you as well, because you\u2019re all on the frontlines in your own communities fighting this fight.<\/p>\n<p>I was born and raised in California, been an attorney there for 24 years.  Got my start in the law when Three Strikes was starting out in California, and developed a real passion for prosecution.  I was the appointed district attorney, and I\u2019ve been the elected district attorney now for four years.  And in the last four years, I have seen California become a disaster.  It\u2019s been tragic to watch my state pass laws that basically have sent our communities into a very dangerous place.<\/p>\n<p>In Lassen County, we\u2019re a very small community.  But I\u2019m pleased to say, when you\u2019re talking about voting, that you have supporters in California.  Lassen County voted overwhelmingly for you in California.  I believe we had the highest margin in all the 58 counties in California.  You are loved in Lassen County.<\/p>\n<p>And I believe that, to a certain extent, we are sort of a forgotten part of California.  We are rural California, and we do not stand for the policies in Sacramento.  We have a horrible problem in our public lands, in our forests.  We\u2019ve got illegals, marijuana \u2014 excuse me, drug cartels that have come up to grow on our public lands and in our forests, and they are decimating it.  They are killing wildlife.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  And you can\u2019t really do anything about it.<\/p>\n<p>MONTGOMERY:  There\u2019s not a thing we can do.  We work with the Department of Fish and Wildlife, who file charges that do the best that they can.  But these people are coming into our forests, they\u2019re endangering our citizens.  They are armed.  They\u2019re setting up camps, and they\u2019re growing mass amounts of marijuana on our public lands.  They are killing wildlife.  They\u2019re diverting streams.  The damage that they\u2019re causing, both to the economy and to our public lands, is going to be generational.  A large portion of these people that are coming in to do this are illegal immigrants.<\/p>\n<p>Because of the legalization of marijuana in California, now we\u2019re seeing those same individuals working with other criminal groups \u2014 the Asian groups, the Russian groups, the motorcycle groups, all kinds of organized crime.  It\u2019s bringing into rural \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  So legalization made it worse?<\/p>\n<p>MONTGOMERY:  The legalization made it worse.  Yes.  I believe the legalization made it worse.  I\u2019ve been appalled, as a district attorney, someone who\u2019s sworn to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the state, that we have fallen so far in California.<\/p>\n<p>We also have other issues.  We are prosecuting an illegal immigrant right now who has been deported several times and has had a violent criminal history, who hit and killed a 16-year-old kid \u2014 a boy in our community \u2014 and fled the scene.  So his case is pending right now.  After I brought the suit, I was promptly served with a gag order to prevent me from talking about the case.  It\u2019s been very frustrating.<\/p>\n<p>Also, I have received correspondence \u2014 and I know that every DA\u2019s office in California has received correspondence from the ACLU and their affiliate organizations, pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act and the California Public Information Act wanting to know what policies \u2014 \u201cWe want to see what policies your office is implementing.  What have you done to ensure compliance with SB 54?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Well, the response from my office was very simple: We have nothing.  Because this office will stand for the rule of law.  Lassen County stands for the rule of law.  And we have no policies to give you because we will not issue such policies from this desk and from this office.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah.  Good job.<\/p>\n<p>MONTGOMERY:  We stand with you.  We are delighted with the actions that you have taken, Mr. Sessions.  The people of Lassen County stand with you, I stand with you, and we appreciate everything that you\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Yep.  Thank you, Stacey.<\/p>\n<p>MONTGOMERY:  You\u2019re welcome.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Beautifully said.  Thank you very much.<\/p>\n<p>Tom?<\/p>\n<p>HOMAN:  First of all, Mr. President, I want to thank you for having this meeting today \u2014 this roundtable.  We appreciate your leadership on this issue.  The Secretary, I appreciate your leadership and how you support law enforcement and the rule of law.  And the AG, I can\u2019t say enough good things about what you\u2019ve done for law enforcement.<\/p>\n<p>You know, I hear a lot of things today about sanctuary cities and the wall.  I\u2019m not the smartest guy at this table by any means, but in sanctuary cities. they want to take the Attorney General on to get their funding.  Even though they violate federal law to keep criminal aliens in, they don\u2019t want a wall to keep them out.  To me, that\u2019s just backwards.<\/p>\n<p>And I want to talk \u2014 I just want to spend a minute to say \u2014 separating fact from fiction, please.  I hope the American people can understand the fight about sanctuary cities.  And I appreciate the American patriots in this room that have joined this fight, which is the good fight, it\u2019s the right fight.<\/p>\n<p>The intentional mis-messaging of sanctuary cities and what they do \u2014 I hear, \u201cThey protect the immigrant communities.\u201d  And they don\u2019t.  It\u2019s the complete opposite.  When you release a criminal alien from a jail, they\u2019re going to go to the very communities in which they live and reoffend.  Anybody can Google recidivism rates.  Over half reoffend the first year against the very immigrant communities in which they live.  So you\u2019re not protecting the immigrant community.  You\u2019re putting them at greater risk of crime.<\/p>\n<p>And when you force an ICE agent, where he can take someone \u2014 the custody of somebody in the safety and security of a county jail and force them into neighborhoods, you put our officers at risk.  You\u2019re already putting the public at risk.  And we\u2019re going to find others who weren\u2019t even on our radar.  So you put the community at greater risk of crime, you put them at greater risk of ICE arrest, and you put the heroes \u2014 the law enforcement officers \u2014 at great risk.<\/p>\n<p>This is National Police Week, as said earlier.  And I want to talk about the messaging \u2014 the mis-messaging from some of these groups and some of these politicians about what ICE does.  When you read that sanctuary cities protect the immigrant communities, but also, we don\u2019t want to be commandeered, we don\u2019t have the ICE agents \u2014 we have never asked anybody to be an ICE agent.  We don\u2019t want any law enforcement officer to be an ICE agent.  What we want is access to a county jail to talk to somebody that we know is here illegally, in violation of federal law, that committed yet another crime.  You can\u2019t tell ICE to prioritize criminal aliens and not give me access to the jail.  It just don\u2019t make sense.<\/p>\n<p>And the final point I want to make in defense of the brave men and women of the Border Patrol and ICE: I\u2019m sick and tired of the constant vilification of these men and women who leave their home every day and strap a gun to their hip; leave the safety and security of their families to defend this nation and to defend their neighborhoods.<\/p>\n<p>When you have a congressman standing in front of the ICE office in New York City and call us the Gestapo, comparing what we do to war crimes.  When you got a congressman who said, quote, \u201cThe cowardly acts of ICE officers that terrorize innocent immigrant communities.\u201d  ICE does more to protect the immigrant than any politician ever has done.  We arrested several hundred-thousand criminals removed from the streets.<\/p>\n<p>For all these people who want to keep vilifying the men and women who took a sworn oath, who are enforcing laws enacted by you, Congress, the next time you think about vilifying the men and women of ICE, I want you to do what I did this week.  I want you to go to our National Law Enforcement wall, I want you to walk that wall, and read the names on that wall: over 400 Border Patrol agents and ICE officers whose hearts stopped beating defending this nation.  It\u2019s a dishonor to these men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice to vilify the men and women that carry the badge and gun.  So think twice before you do it.<\/p>\n<p>And as far as the hate that I take for defending the men and women of ICE and the Border Patrol, that will stop the day my heart stops to beat.  And it won\u2019t end.  And even though I may be retiring soon, this fight doesn\u2019t end with me.  I will stay engaged, and I will keep fighting for you, sir.  So thank you very much.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much.<\/p>\n<p>HOMAN:  I\u2019ve worked for six Presidents, and I respect them all.  But no President has done more than you for border security and for law enforcement.  I think every law enforcement officer at this table would agree with me.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much.  No, that\u2019s very nice.  That\u2019s a great compliment, believe me \u2014 because you have, indeed, worked for six.  And all six respected you greatly.  None more than me.  Thank you very much.  I just wish you could have said that to the press, but \u2014 (laughter) \u2014 here\u2019s the good news: You have such a beautiful, full head of hair, you look good even from that angle.  (Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>I appreciate it, Tom.  That\u2019s really nice.  Thank you very much.<\/p>\n<p>Elaine?<\/p>\n<p>MAYOR GENNAWEY:  Good afternoon, Mr. President.  And thank you for inviting us here to share our thoughts with you.  I\u2019m Elaine Gennawey, Mayor of the city of Laguna Niguel in Orange County, California.  And so, really appreciate the opportunity to let you know what our residents are feeling.<\/p>\n<p>But first, I\u2019d like to ask Director Homan, please let the men and women of ICE know that they have our gratitude and our deep, deep appreciation for what they do.<\/p>\n<p>HOMAN:  Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>MAYOR GENNAWEY:  But, you know, Laguna Niguel took a stance against SB 54 because that is the greatest threat to the safety of all of California residents \u2014 all of our residents, all of our communities.  And that includes our immigrant communities.  The siloing or preventing law enforcement agencies from talking to each other is a threat to our agents and to the communities.  And our country learned a very tragic lesson on September 11th \u2014  and that\u2019s what happens when law enforcement does not communicate.<\/p>\n<p>So isn\u2019t it ironic that in an age of calls for increased transparency, that the California legislature wants to prevent that.  So we think that all of our residents deserve to live in a safe community.  And also, Mr. President, there is an area where we need your assistance with.  We will support you on preventing SB 54 and upholding what ICE does, but in California we need your help with sober living homes.  Orange County has become known as the \u201cRehab Riviera.\u201d  So H.R. 5724 is just being introduced, and we would appreciate help with that, because local control is being attacked from Sacramento every single day, and this is one other issue.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  We\u2019ll take a look.  We\u2019ll take a look.  I\u2019ll take a look on that.  Thank you very much.<\/p>\n<p>MAYOR GENNAWEY:  Okay, thank you.  Appreciate that.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Steve Miller, would you like to say something?<\/p>\n<p>MILLER:  Just what an honor it is to be able to work for a President who has the backs of our law enforcement officers.  Everything you\u2019re doing every day is saving so many lives all across this country, and it\u2019s just an endless honor to be a part of it, and even in any a small way.  So thank you, sir.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, Stephen.  That\u2019s great.  A great job you do, too.<\/p>\n<p>GASPAR:  Good afternoon, Mr. President.  It\u2019s an honor to be here.  I\u2019m Kristin Gaspar representing the largest county here today, San Diego County.  I have 3.5 million constituents that I\u2019m responsible for their public safety.  If you look around this room, your tiny but mighty team, this is what Governor Brown classifies as low-life politicians.  Well, here we are.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ve heard about the problems.  You\u2019ve heard about the statistics.  And I could have thought of a million things to say to you.  I have a stack of 3,000 emails in my office.  These are the emails that have come in \u2014 thank yous, people supporting what we\u2019re doing.  And I have a tiny little stack of less than 50 where people are very upset with what we\u2019re doing in San Diego County.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  How is the wall going?  How is the wall?  (Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>GASPAR:  It\u2019s going.  It\u2019s going.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  We\u2019re getting it built, right?<\/p>\n<p>GASPAR:  It is being built.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  They wanted it so badly \u2014 San Diego.  They wanted it so badly.  And I said, you know, if we build it, we will lose a big constituency, because there won\u2019t be anybody saying, \u201cWe want the wall.\u201d  But we had to build it.  So I know they\u2019re very happy about it.<\/p>\n<p>GASPAR:  And I\u2019d like to share with you a story, because sometimes humanizing the issue is really important.  And a family reached out to me, and I brought with me one single photo on that plane, since the stack of 3,000 emails is a little difficult to carry.  But that photo was the last photo taken of 27-year-old Alexander Mazin, who was gunned down by an illegal immigrant who had previously been deported.<\/p>\n<p>Now, as his family picks up the pieces of their lives that have been shattered, his killer lives openly and freely in a Tijuana motel.<\/p>\n<p>Now, it\u2019s really interesting what\u2019s happening in San Diego with our borders, because we\u2019ve created a situation where Governor Brown makes San Diego a great place to commit a crime because you have options.  You can either be across the border in a matter of minutes and shielded by Mexico, or you have the option of simply staying put, shielded by Governor Moonbeam.  So there are options, but there are real consequences for what\u2019s happening.  And my heart just broke talking to Mr. Mazin about his son.  And he described his son dying like a filthy rat in a parking lot, while this killer gets to just live freely in Mexico, and being robbed of ever having the opportunity to have grandchildren.<\/p>\n<p>Now, he said something that stuck with me.  He said, \u201cYou know, my son, he was a true patriot.  He was a wonderful human being, an exemplary citizen, lost because of the problem at our border.\u201d  So this case, and so many others, these are the faces \u2014 this is what we\u2019re fighting for.  And we\u2019re all in, because we\u2019re going to fight to protect our public safety, and we are going to speak freely about this issue until we can look back at our own children and guarantee their safety in our community.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you for your advocacy.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Well, thank you very much.  And you find Mexico helps or it does nothing for us?<\/p>\n<p>GASPAR:  Mexico does not help with cases like this because it will take years \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Mexico does nothing for us.  They do nothing for us.<\/p>\n<p>GASPAR:  And this family will \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Mexico talks, but they do nothing for us, especially at the border.  Certainly don\u2019t help us much on trade, but especially at the border, they do nothing for us.<\/p>\n<p>Jeff, thank you very much.  Jeff.<\/p>\n<p>ATTORNEY GENERAL SESSIONS:  Mr. President, great to be with you.  I want you to know that the President has made clear to all of us that we have to do better.  We are going to do better in our Department.  We\u2019re reviewing everything we\u2019re doing.  And we\u2019re going to probably have twice as many prosecutions, add a whole bunch of judges, and do the things that we can to move this agenda forward.<\/p>\n<p>But I want to tell you, in my opinion, having been here and a lot of battles over this issue, this year \u2014 Kevin, and I know you and I were talking about it \u2014 could be the year \u2014 this is the year that we have to move Congress.  I\u2019ve always said Congress will pass anything as long as it doesn\u2019t work.  (Laughter.)  If you come up with a bill that will actually improve our sheriffs\u2019 and our ICE officers\u2019 and Border Patrol officers\u2019 ability to do their job, to deport people who have entered illegally, then they object, and we seem to come up short.  This time, let\u2019s not come up short.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve got a leader.  He can articulate this message effectively.  And if we all get behind our leader, we\u2019ll get something done this year that\u2019s historic.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, Jeff.  Thank you very much.<\/p>\n<p>SHERIFF GRANGOFF:  Mr. President, Ray Grangoff, Deputy with the Orange County Sheriffs Department.  And thank you so much for fighting for law enforcement.  It\u2019s much appreciated.<\/p>\n<p>You know, for us, as the Mayor said, the biggest issue with SB 54 is not being able to communicate with law enforcement partners.  We need to be able to talk.  And since 9\/11, we have done a great job of opening up the communication at the local, state, and federal level, and addressing our shared threats.<\/p>\n<p>And in communicating with ICE, we were able to address the shared threat of getting criminal offenders off our streets.  We had a 287(g) program in Orange County, where we were able to screen all our inmates, and some of those people that we were able to identify were people that weren\u2019t even yet on ICE\u2019s radar because they were just new to the country.  And so we were able to put them on ICE\u2019s radar and get them out of here.<\/p>\n<p>One of them that stands out, and it was back in October of 2016, a 21-year-old that was in jail on child molestation charges.  We screened that person and we were able to alert ICE, and now that person is serving time and will be out of the country.  But that goes away with SB 54, and we\u2019re not able to talk, and that is not a good thing.  We need to address the shared threats.<\/p>\n<p>So we will reap these bad policies that have been sown.  But the lawsuit and what your administration is doing to fight that is a huge help.  So keep it up, and thank you so much.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, Sheriff.  Thank you very much.  I appreciate it.<\/p>\n<p>MAYOR HACKBARTH-MCINTYRE:  Hi.  Julie Hackbarth-McIntyre, city of Barstow.  We sit \u2014 we have the longest cul-de-sac.  The National Training Center is 27 miles from the city of Barstow.<\/p>\n<p>When we joined the amicus brief, it was \u2014 we recognized that \u2014 myself and my councilmembers \u2014 was that federal law reigns over immigration, not the state.  What is happening \u2014 in listening around this table of what\u2019s happening in other communities, I haven\u2019t had anything personal from the ICE of illegal immigration yet, but I know it\u2019s coming, because we can\u2019t enforce anything.  The crime rate is up in California, and it\u2019s going to continue to rise as long as these policies \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  It\u2019s true.<\/p>\n<p>MAYOR HACKBARTH-MCINTYRE:  \u2014 are blanketed across California.  And they don\u2019t \u2014 they\u2019re not talking to the small communities.  We talk to our citizens every day.  They\u2019re afraid \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  And we have \u2014 the crime rate in the nation is way down.  But in California, it\u2019s up.  Because of the ridiculous laws.  Go ahead.<\/p>\n<p>MAYOR HACKBARTH-MCINTYRE:  Yes.  And I just appreciate, Mr. President, for you here, listening to our concerns, listening to \u2014 it\u2019s going to take all of us and I think we\u2019re ready to make the fight to California to say, \u201cEnough is enough.  We\u2019re done.\u201d  The blanketed policies across California aren\u2019t working.  So we need help.  I\u2019m glad that you\u2019re making this fight known.  We appreciate everyone in your staff, in your administration, helping and pushing through to make sure that our communities are safe.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much.  Appreciate it.  Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>MAYOR PRO TEM KUSUMOTO:  Mr. President, I\u2019m Warren Kusumoto from the tiny town of Los Alamitos.  And we were first, and we were boldest \u2014 (laughter and applause) \u2014<\/p>\n<p>PARTICIPANT:  Here, here.<\/p>\n<p>MAYOR PRO TEM KUSUMOTO:  We\u2019ve done something that no other city has done.  We\u2019ve actually passed an ordinance and exposed our city to a lawsuit, as Mayor Edgar said.  And in this experience, there\u2019s a silent majority of patriots out there \u2014 I\u2019m sorry, I\u2019m getting broken up \u2014 that they want this.  They want us to do what we\u2019re doing.  And that anyone with common sense knows this California Values Act was put in place to protect those that are here breaking the law.<\/p>\n<p>And the message I got from this whole experience is, the citizens of our state and our city feel like they have less rights than the entitled illegal aliens, and the entitled attitude is a thing that really just makes me really unhappy.  They feel that they\u2019re entitled to something that we don\u2019t even get.  So please, sir, we need your help.  We appreciate your leadership.<\/p>\n<p>And because \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  And by the way, you gave us great leadership, too.<\/p>\n<p>MAYOR PRO TEM KUSUMOTO:  Thank you, sir.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Don\u2019t kid yourself.  You did a great job.<\/p>\n<p>MAYOR PRO TEM KUSUMOTO:  But the state \u2014 you know, the double-speak from the politicians in the State of California \u2014 the commandeering \u2014 they\u2019ve commandeered our police force by tying their hands.  And so that\u2019s the double-speak that comes out of the bullies there.  We just poked the bully.  And I think being the lowlifes that we are, we\u2019re closest to the people.  We know what the people want, and we\u2019ve gone forward with that boldly.  And I\u2019ve asked other cities to step up and do at least \u2014 consider the matter, listen to their constituents, and they\u2019ll know what they\u2019re supposed to do.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you, sir, for having us here.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Thanks very much.  Great job.  Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>STEEL:  Mr. President, Michelle Steel from Orange County.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Yes.<\/p>\n<p>STEEL:  Thank you very much by inviting us.  And I just want to say, as a Korean-American \u2014 first generation Korean-American \u2014 went through legal process to coming in here, really appreciate for the release of three Korean-Americans from North Korea.  So we really appreciate that.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  We\u2019re very happy about that.<\/p>\n<p>STEEL:  At the same time that \u2014 for SB 54 \u2014 that because of City of Los Alamitos, they have 11,700 people living there, and they had the gutsy move and then Orange County led, as of now, the 9 counties of 58 in California that they passed an ordinance \u2014 they passed the ordinances or resolutions to go anti-sanctuary state.  And then more than 35 cities as of now.<\/p>\n<p>This is really an interesting experience because I was never called \u2014 I married to \u2014 you know, Kevin knows my husband, John Steel, who is a national committeeman from California \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Good.  Good.  Say hello.<\/p>\n<p>STEEL:  This is the first time that I was called \u2014 because I was going out for anti-sanctuary state \u2014 \u201ca racist big \u2018B\u2019.\u201d  I mean, on the email that you get this \u2014 and I said, \u201cOh my God, first generation.  How desperate that the other side are\u201d \u2014 (laughter) \u2014 \u201cthat being called.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But I am very, very excited that Orange County actually filed a lawsuit to join Attorney General\u2019s lawsuit.  So June 5th, that court is going to decide we can join them \u2014 join the federal government or not.  If it\u2019s not, then we\u2019re going to file the lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Good<\/p>\n<p>STEEL:  So we\u2019re going to work together in Orange County.  Most of cities that we came from \u2014 Laguna Niguel and San Juan Capistrano \u2014 Orange County is all with you.  And you know what?  People \u2014 and I got all these emails; mostly positive.  And then, actually, Berkeley study came out where 57 percent are against us \u2014 so for sanctuary state \u2014 and 41 percent against sanctuary state.  I don\u2019t think that polling is really right because whatever we get, we got all mostly positive ones except that person called.  Yep.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Right.  Right.  Well, you have done a great job, Michelle.<\/p>\n<p>STEEL:  Thank you very much.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  We appreciate it.  Fantastic job.  Sheriff?<\/p>\n<p>SHERIFF CHRISTIANSON:  Well, Mr. President, thank you for having us.  And first of all, thank you for being a defender of the rule of law, and for your overwhelming support of public safety and standing with the men and women who put their lives on the line every day.  That\u2019s just tremendous.<\/p>\n<p>You know, the great part about being last is there\u2019s not much else to say.  (Laughter.)  So I won\u2019t, in the interest in time and out of respect of your time, I\u2019ll only add one point.   And I know this is something that we\u2019ve had conversations with Director Homan and Attorney General Sessions, and that\u2019s the detainer issue.  For the sheriffs, that\u2019s a real problem for us.  The federal court has said that honoring detainers is a violation of the Fourth Amendment.  That puts us in a very precarious position from a point \u2014 a liability standpoint.<\/p>\n<p>And we really need to be able to do our jobs without all of the interference that\u2019s going on.  And certainly, I\u2019m going to reaffirm Director Homan\u2019s comments.  We have an outstanding relationship with ICE.  We work very closely with them.  Since 9\/11, sir, we have an unbelievable partnership with our federal law enforcement agencies.  And there shouldn\u2019t be anybody interfering with a sheriff\u2019s ability, a chief\u2019s ability, or anybody in this room at this table today from defending people against those who exploit and victimize them.  There should be no interference in our ability to protect our communities, to protect our national security.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m privileged to live in the Central Valley, where agriculture is the number-one economic industry \u2014 multi-billion dollar industry.  We feed the world.  ICE is not out sweeping through those agricultural communities.  We\u2019re looking for the people, the criminals.  Not the people who are working, seeking a better life in America, sent their kids to school, are out every day in agriculture, whether that\u2019s nuts, fruits, poultry, dairy, you name it.  That\u2019s not what we\u2019re doing, sir.  We\u2019re focused on those individuals who victimize and exploit the weak and defenseless.  And we should be able to do that without interference.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you for having us.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, Adam.  That\u2019s fantastic.  I want to thank everybody for being here, very special people.  And we are \u2014 step by step, we\u2019re bringing it back, and we will bring it back.  We will not fail.  We\u2019ll bring it back.  So thank you very much.  Thank you very much.  Please.  Go ahead.  Thank you.  Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>END<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;Good afternoon. I\u2019m greatly honored to be here with the courageous mayors and sheriffs and local leaders from across the state of California. A great state. Each of you has bravely resisted California\u2019s deadly and unconstitutional sanctuary state laws. You\u2019ve gone through a lot, too, although it\u2019s becoming quite popular what you\u2019re doing. A [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59307,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Fullscreen-capture-5162018-44259-PM.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/59307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}