By Dan Murphy
Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins responded to a written request from County Legislator James Nolan to amend the county’s Immigrant Protection Act, (IPA), with a letter to Nolan. Read our story last week at https://yonkerstimes.com/county-legislator-nolan-wants-to-revise-the-immigrant-protection-act/
Jenkins writes, “Dear Legislator Nolan, The Immigration Protection Act (IPA) was adopted out of cooperation between law enforcement and local residents. You seem to misunderstand – the IPA requires the County to comply with federal law, and was celebrated by advocates and law enforcement professionals as a pragmatic compromise on its passage. The Committee Report for the IPA specifically states that the IPA
” … does not create a ‘sanctuary’ for anyone involved in criminal conduct, but facilitates law enforcement investigation and prosecution of criminal offences.” In fact, even according to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s memorandum, issued in February of this year, Westchester does not meet the federal definition of a ‘Sanctuary’ jurisdiction.
“Now more than ever, we need your support in protecting our residents from federal overreach with the same kind of careful, intentional, bipartisan consideration that produced the IPA. Lawful residents have been deported to foreign prisons to serve indefinite sentences without judicial review; American citizens have been detained and held in federal custody without legal representation. All of this is happening without due process, and in clear breach of the Constitution.
“Moreover, the Trump Administration has already proposed deep cuts to services that our constituents rely on: Westchester County residents may go hungry because of slashed food assistance allocations. One in five Westchester residents rely on Medicaid for their medical care, which the Trump Administration plans to terminate. Seniors on Social Security face delayed or denied payments, making it even harder for them to live as prices continue to rise. The Trump Administration has proposed and enacted these cuts nationwide, regardless of local action not purely as a punitive measure for local policies they dislike.
“It is my philosophy that County government works best when its elected officials concentrate on delivering material results for residents, instead of pandering to national political interests. We would value your partnership to demand that the federal administration and Congress reverse all cuts to programs and services and protect the residents of Westchester County- rather than finding new, creative ways to raise prices, violate our freedoms, deny us medical care, and lower of our quality of life,” writes Jenkins.
