Denounced by GOP lawmakers, blue state governors defend immigration policies

During a combative House committee hearing on immigration policy Thursday, Republicans and Democrats offered competing portraits of a United States under siege. GOP lawmakers described migrants without legal status as a threat to the nation’s sovereignty and public safety, made worse by Democratic state laws.

“Sanctuary policies do not protect Americans,” said Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. “They protect criminal illegal aliens.”

That narrative clashed with the view offered by Democrats, who described the Trump administration’s migrant sweeps and deployment of National Guard and Marine units in Los Angeles without approval by state officials as a direct threat to civil liberties and the rule of law.

“Because of Trump, no American city or state is safe as he lays this groundwork to take his militarization playbook nationwide,” said Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass.

Thursday’s hearing featured testimony by — and frequent grilling of — three prominent Democratic state governors, including Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a vice presidential candidate in 2024 who has emerged as one of his party’s national leaders.

“Everyone in America deserves due process,” Walz said, during opening remarks. “We live in a free country where people should not be locked up for exercising their basic constitutional rights.”

Walz, along with governors Kathy Hochul of New York and JB Pritzker of Illinois, described migrants, including those without legal status, as generally hard working, safe residents of their communities.

But Republicans sparred aggressively with the Democratic governors, blasting blue state policies that limit local law enforcement’s role in immigration sweeps, while allowing some migrants without legal status in the U.S. to receive healthcare, operate motor vehicles, and send their children to school.

Rep. Elise Stefanik, a Republican of New York, who is contemplating a run for governor, used the hearing to lambast Hochul. Stefanik suggested Democratic state policies made it easier for migrants to avoid arrest before they committed violent crimes.

“These crimes are horrific,” Hochul acknowledged, during one heated exchange. “In all of these cases we would work with ICE to remove them.”

“They are walking on the streets because of your policies,” Stefanik said.

Studies show migrants commit fewer crimes than U.S. citizens, a fact Democrats raised repeatedly during the hearing. Overall crime has also been falling steadily across the U.S., including in “blue” cities and states.

But Republican lawmakers pointed repeatedly to high-profile cases where migrants committed violent crimes. Democrats described those as isolated incidents that could be handled by local law enforcement.

“Someone who commits murder should be held accountable,” said Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. “We do that in the state of Illinois.”

“And you think they should have been welcomed into our communities before they did [commit crimes]?” asked Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas.

“I don’t know how you can tell before somebody commits a crime,” Pritzker replied.

“You secure the border and don’t let illegal aliens come into our communities,” Gill said.

Fear of dangerous migrants vs. fear of “militarized” immigration policy

The House hearing played out against the backdrop of on-going unrest in a small area of Los Angeles, sparked by escalating raids by U.S. Immigration, and Customs Enforcement agents.

While Republicans focused many of their questions on public safety, and isolated incidents of violence or gang activity by migrants, Democrats described the clash over immigration as a crisis manufactured by the Trump administration.

“ICE showed up in Chicago nearly immediately [after Trump took office] and began terrorizing our neighborhoods, our schools and parents,” Pritzker said.

Pritzker and Hochul also pointed to their own families’ histories as immigrants to the U.S., with Pritzker’s Jewish ancestors arriving as refugees from Ukraine and Hochul’s family migrating from Ireland.

“The America I believe in is a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. Abandoning either threatens the very foundation on which our great country was built,” Hochul said.