President Trump working on proposals for legal and illegal immigration
White House set to deliver plan for merit-based immigration; John Roberts reports.
President Trump praised federal immigration officers as “heroes” on Wednesday and blasted Massachusetts district attorneys’ efforts to help illegal migrants evade arrests in the state's courthouses.
His comments came as state prosecutors, public defenders and other activists in the state filed a lawsuit against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) earlier this week.
The lawsuit argues that ICE officers should be blocked from using Massachusetts courthouses for arrests of illegal immigrants, saying the courthouses must be the purview of state authorities.
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“These are people that probably don’t mind crime, they don’t mind what’s going on,” Trump said during a Boston Herald Radio interview, referring to prosecutors who filed the lawsuit.
“You look at MS-13, they say in the world there’s nothing more evil. These are some very, very bad people. To try and protect them? I don’t think so.”
“These are people that probably don’t mind crime, they don’t mind what’s going on. You look at MS-13, they say in the world there’s nothing more evil. These are some very, very bad people. To try and protect them? I don’t think so.”
Suffolk DA Rachael Rollins and Middlesex DA Marian Ryan are at the forefront of the lawsuit against the federal authorities, with Rollins saying “it would be my honor” to be detained for helping illegal immigrants escape ICE agents, according to the Boston Herald.
"Our immigrant community is especially vulnerable when ICE makes our courthouses a place of fear, not justice, for victims. That’s why I’m part of a lawsuit to stop ICE from making arrests in court. We must ensure that our justice system is open to everyone seeking help," Rollins wrote in a Twitter message Tuesday.
But on the same day the lawsuit was filed, ICE officials reportedly arrested two illegal migrants at courthouses in Suffolk, both of which were linked to criminal groups such as MS-13 or the 18th Street gang.
“What they’ve done to young girls, what they’ve done to women, what they’ve done to others, is just horrible,” Trump said in the interview, pointing to the crimes perpetrated by MS-13.
“So for her to be saying that — she’s got to live with it, she’s got to live with her own conscience,” Trump said of the district attorneys bringing the lawsuit.
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Trump also referred to the case of Newton District Court Judge Shelley Richmond Joseph, a Massachusetts judge who was indicted for helping a man who was living in the U.S. illegally sneak out a back door of the courthouse to evade a waiting immigration enforcement agent.
“They come from a place that you just can’t really understand,” Trump said. “They’re protecting people that in many cases — and certainly not in all cases — but in many cases are very dangerous people,” he said.
“We have to stop crime in this country,” he continued, noting that “Crime is way down in this country and part of the reason is ICE.”
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“It isn’t an easy job. ICE — these are heroes, these are really heroes,” the president added. “They’re doing the job nobody wants to do.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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