Weinberger first announced his position Saturday afternoon following the president’s tweet Friday that he is “giving strong considerations to placing Illegal Immigrants in Sanctuary Cities,” or municipalities that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
Weinberger has vowed to buck the Trump administration’s immigration policies before, and on Monday, the mayor called the president’s latest proposal “un-American.”
“Here in Burlington, we do not buy into, we do not support [Trump’s] very dark vision of immigrants that are attempting to come to this country to seek asylum,” Weinberger said at an afternoon news conference.
He said immigrants are often “fleeing very difficult situations” and have enriched Burlington’s community.
Weinberger said he was compelled to react to Trump’s tweets, including one that said the U.S. “has the absolute legal right” to transport migrants across the country. It’s unclear whether the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has taken any action to enforce Trump’s plan, the Associated Press reported Monday, but in case things move quickly, Weinberger said the Queen City is prepared.
The mayor discussed the issue “at length” Monday morning with city officials and has contacted state and federal groups connected to immigration issues should the plan be enacted, he said.
Weinberger said the city’s planning isn’t an overreaction despite the president’s well-known tendency to tweet policy statements that lack plausibility.
“It is very difficult to decipher what is real from what is just bluster and posturing,” Weinberger said. “I am taking this seriously, though. I do sense that this may not materialize, but on the other hand … there has been turnover in Homeland Security in recent days over disagreements over policies.”
Indeed, on April 7, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen resigned, a move widely seen as a result of her refusal to enforce Trump’s more aggressive border policies. Days earlier, Trump withdrew a nominee to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement, wanting “tougher” leadership, the New York Times reported.
Weinberger has waded into the immigration debate before. In 2016, the city pushed back against Trump’s efforts to “deputize our law enforcement officers” as border agents, Weinberger said, and in 2017, Burlington celebrated when a federal court ruled the U.S. Justice Department couldn’t revoke funding for cities that fail to enforce immigration directives.
Weinberger called this latest Trump tango “Round Three” on immigration and urged the president to break from his typical “disruptive and chaotic” leadership style.
The mayor said Burlington is paying close attention to the White House, but so far, there’s no need to panic. He added that the Burlington area has welcomed more than 5,000 New Americans over the last 30 years, creating a stronger and more diverse community.
“For those that want to try to make a new life here as asylum-seekers, we will mobilize our local efforts … to ensure that that is as welcoming and compassionate and seamless a process as possible,” Weinberger said.
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First the arrogant naieve Progs ripped off BTV taxpayers with the guaranteed-to-fail Burlington Telecom theft and now arrogant elitist Weinberger wants to rip off taxpayers by inviting infinitely many illegals to squat in the city and suck up services. Maybe they can reside in “The Weinberger Development Crater” in the center of the city?
Miro is just thinking about the money he’ll be getting and never mind the housing problems we are already having
The Mayor Bumbletown resides over a municipality that routinely uses Lake Champlain as their toilet because they either can’t afford adequate waste water facilities, or they can’t afford proper facilities, to prevent the pollution of Lake Champlain.
Now he wants to make a bad situation much worse, by bringing in illegal immigrants that he knows nothing about, to put even more negative pressure on a municipality with limited resources, that can’t or won’t fund its current obligations, just so he can make a political point.
This is the kind of mind numbing logic ‘progressives’ utilize to our collective destruction. How’s that diversity thing working out in ‘enriching’ the Burlington school district under your imported Superintendent? How’s that diversity thing working out in France, with yet another catholic church burned to the ground; flames pouring out of one of the worlds most iconic cathedrals on Monday of Holy Week?
“Miro is just thinking about the money he’ll be getting”
What “money” are you referring to? Is this yet another evidence-free accusation of wrongdoing by the Mayor? Please explain.
Maybe we can give them all free housing in the newly completed City Place. Oh wait…it’s a giant hole in the ground that doesn’t appear to be going anywhere. Putting them in the hole might not be a good idea, either, because it might fill up with untreated sewage when the city facility overflows during every rain storm.
After some thought, maybe we ought to focus less on scoring some sweet anti-Trump political points and fix the glaring issues with the city that we can’t seem to tackle. Trump’s treatment of immigrants is awful, but Miro is letting Burlington turn into even more of a poop-hole by not fixing either the poop problem or the giant hole issue.
Do your job first, and then play politics afterwards, Miro.
ASSUME, must be you didn’t read the article very good.. In 2017 the Court ruled that the funding could not be revoked for cities that fail to enforce immigration directives. Which means the city gets paid by the Feds to house them!
Miro, as always, talks a good game and takes his purely Democratic stab at notching points against Trump. But the housing issue in this city is fraught. Who’s going to pay for the high rent to house these folks? Or are you going to throw out your current crop of poor people to make room for new ones? As one of the poor people currently being housed by CHT, I find this posturing annoying.
Mainly because I don’t believe he will ever follow through on this. If I thought he would, I’d be caught between a cheer and a cough.
Just a quick note to Miro:
Will your welcomed migrants sleep in your basement as well as with you and the missus in your bedroom? Considering the lack of housing here in the Queen City, you must be planning to put up a bunch of them, right? You wouldn’t just be posturing would you? This wouldn’t be a sham invitation for political gain…..no, of course not! Better dust off that cot from the attic, huh? Got enough sleeping bags?
Aren’t you the welcoming one!
I am so glad I am moving out of VT. I support most of Trump’s agenda. I do not support illegals being anywhere in America without a sensible system that screens candidates carefully and deciding based on that assessment, who stays and who goes bye-bye.
It was not that long ago that majority of the Democratic Party supported all of the immigration recommendations of African-American, Democratic Congresswoman and civil rights icon Barbara Jordan. When she led President Clinton’s Bipartisan Commission on Immigration Reform. The idea was to shift US to more skills-based immigration system like Canada, and to slow immigration in acknowledgment of Reagan-era weakening of labor unions; predicted economic impacts from NAFTA; from automation; from globalization, etc. Also known as the “Jordan Commission,” they recommended chain migration reform (to limit legal admission to nuclear family with minor children, instead of aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws, siblings of in-laws, cousins of in-laws, etc.); elimination of the diversity visa lottery; reduction of legal immigration from the-then 1990’s average of 750,000 per year back to the 1980’s average of around 550,000 per year (it is now up to 1.3 million per year); and strengthened enforcement vs illegal immigration, including mandatory E-Verify.
Ms. Jordan tragically died at age 59 or 60 as they were drafting the legislation in early 1996. It was widely expected to pass Congress and Bill Clinton had said he supported it. Then, a month or two after Ms. Jordan’s death, Clinton yanked his support, thereby killing the reforms. According to Boston Globe and other reporting, Clinton allegedly killed it because of illegal campaign financing to the DNC from the Chinese (via John Huang); and because of lobbying from groups like La Raza. China did not want the reform.
Since Trump’s election, there has been an effort to revive the Jordan Commission reforms & make US more like Canada. GOP’s Grassley introduced mandatory E-Verify; GOP’s Cotton-Perdue introduced RAISE Act, etc. Why haven’t Leahy and Sanders crossed aisle to support this? What happened to the party of Barbara Jordan?
Hey moron!!! Did you get that from the people who employ you??? Many who have lived in Burlington for most of their life are sick and tired of all this stupid crap.
@ GI Gripe:
You didn’t say, “the money that the City will be getting.” You said, “the money he’ll be getting.” If you meant the city, why say “he”? The money won’t be going to Miro. You’re always making unsubstantiated accusations of corruption by the Mayor. Every time you do I ask you for evidence. And every single time you don’t answer.
In the spirit of welcoming asylum seekers, let’s move the white parade mural now. Agreements never guaranteed use of that alley space for the mural, in fact easements were never obtained. Until a suitable home is secured, the panels which detach from the wall can be safely stored.
The mural is not only an example of how white culture devalues the achievements of non-white people, it is also an embarrassment to those who are exclusively valued. Senator Sanders speaks in Chicago and Pittsburg, urging people to stand up against racial injustice, and as proof of his commitment to fighting racism he tells voters how he marched with Dr. King 60 years ago. But today, across the street from his office in Burlington, he is seen marching in the exclusive white parade, smiling and waving.
In response to the mayor’s declaration of Welcome to asylum seekers, and out of respect for the historic diversity of our community from the moment Europeans were welcomed by the Wabanaki, to the present day, Council needs to move the mural now.