David Hernández: Criticizes ‘political stunt’ in withholding federal grants

Criticizes ‘political stunt’ in withholding federal grants

Attorney General Jeff Sessions couldn’t be further from the truth on sanctuary cities, crime, and public safety (“Feds threaten to strip police grants,” July 27).

Local enforcement in federal immigration matters does the opposite of what he claims. It harms public safety and shatters trust, dissuading immigrants and those close to them from reporting crimes, serving as witnesses, and providing the basic cooperation needed for our community’s public safety. Who will help their neighbor, or report an abusive spouse, or stick around to file a vehicle accident report when permanent family breakup is at stake?

The fact is that immigrants commit less crime than the native-born, and every empirical study for the last 100 years supports this. Reported this year, the Migration Policy Institute found that under 3 percent of noncitizens committed felonies compared to over 6 percent of the general population.

The Trump administration’s determination to throw away local efforts at creating public safety for all (worth far more than $91,699) by seeking to take away federal moneys is a political stunt based on an age-old falsehood and twisted logic.

David Hernández

Northampton

]]>