Rahm Emanuel: Chicago Didn’t Participate in the Fugitive Slave Act, ‘So, Being a Sanctuary City Is in Our History’

‘I call it a welcoming city, not a sanctuary city’

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COLBERT: “Chicago is also a sanctuary city, right?”
EMANUEL: “Totally.”
COLBERT: “Okay. How does that work? How does that work? And I can understand the enthusiasm for that idea and I am just curious, how is that different than, say, John C. Calhoun  declaring nullification of federal law? How is that not a sort of a constitutional crisis?”
EMANUEL: “First of all, I call it a welcoming city, not a sanctuary city.”
COLBERT: “Okay.”
EMANUEL: “And we welcome immigrants from around the world. There are 140 languages spoken in the Chicago public schools. A hundred years ago my grandfather came to Chicago 13 years old by himself, Chicago welcomed him and his grandson now is the mayor. Chicago, the United States, is the greatest city and the greatest country in the world. Bear none! That an immigrant grandson can be the mayor. And here is the other thing. Little history of Chicago. The only city not to participate in the Fugitive Slave Act, of returning slaves back to the South, the city of Chicago. So, being a sanctuary city is in our history. The only city— “
COLBERT: “That doesn’t necessarily answer my question. I’m all for what you are doing, but I’m just curious how it doesn’t violate federal law for you to do this.”
EMANUEL: “Because the police department in the city of Chicago is not supposed to be enforcing the immigration laws of the United States government, that is what the federal government is for. That is not what we’re doing. And here is the other thing. The bigger piece of this is, we are building relationships between the police department and communities. I’m not driving a wedge. That is what Donald Trump wants, is a wedge between — on the philosophy of community policing. It is absolutely antithetical to everything we are trying to do, and which is why police chiefs around the country, big cities, small cities, medium sized cities, all think what the Justice Department, specifically under Donald Trump, is driving a wedge and a difference between communities and the police departments when we are trying to actually build that trust. It is absolutely antithetical to community policing.”

(Via Breitbart)

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