Skip to main content

Ayotte highlights immigration in Senate race

Image
News Date
Body

On July 6 Sen. Kelly Ayotte released a new campaign video challenging Gov. Maggie Hassan on sanctuary cities.

Such cities choose not to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, providing “sanctuary” for illegal/undocumented immigrants.

Ayotte highlighted two pieces of legislation in her video: S 3100 and SB 353.

S 3100 is a federal bill proposed in 2016 that withholds federal funds from cities that block legal inquiries about an individual’s immigration status.  Sen. Ayotte voted in favor of that bill.

SB 353 was a state bill proposed in 2008 that prohibited sanctuary cities and also required state and local police to enforce federal immigration laws.  Hassan voted against that bill as a state Senator.

“Governor Hassan has rightfully faced criticism for her support of dangerous sanctuary city policies, and this video is an important reminder that Hassan blocked a common sense proposal to enforce immigration laws and keep our communities safe,” said Ayotte spokeswoman Liz Johnson.

Hassan has not yet responded to Ayotte’s video.  However, Gov. Hassan’s vote against SB 353 does not necessarily mean she supports sanctuary cities. 

SB 353 not only forbade sanctuary cities; it required state and local law enforcement to actively pursue individuals for violating federal law. Legally, state and local law enforcement are only responsible for enforcing state law, and there are many arguments against local enforcement of immigration laws.  Our State Immigration Enforcement issue page explains the pros and cons. 

Just this year the Republican-controlled House of Representatives in New Hampshire voted overwhelmingly to table a bill to ban sanctuary cities, in large part because there are no sanctuary cities in New Hampshire.   

“Imposing legislation upon communities to prevent something from happening that was unlikely to happen is precedent setting and might open the door to a huge amount of prohibitive legislation,” explained Rep. James Belanger

Do you think New Hampshire needs to pass a bill about sanctuary cities?  Let us know in the comments.

 

Comments

Login or register to post comments

Thank you to our sponsors and donors