On Wednesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Will Cain Show,” Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) said that people who argue that the situation could be fixed if Minnesota and other states turned over criminal illegal immigrants to the federal government, “But that requires cooperation, and cooperation requires trust.”
Host Will Cain asked, “I have a very direct and simple question for you here today that I’d love to be able to answer: Why do Democrats seem to be so hell-bent on keeping criminal illegal aliens from being handed over to ICE?”
Welch answered, “We’re absolutely not. Vermont, we’re not a sanctuary state, as you call it. Two things: Number one, the border has to be secure. We’ve made great progress on that. Number two, criminals should be deported. What the problem here is is that the killings — we had two killings of, really, innocent people, and then a denial by Kristi Noem that there was any responsibility on the part of bad training.”
Cain then cut in to say, “You say that, in Vermont, you hand over criminal illegal aliens to ICE and to DHS, to the federal government. But that is not happening in Minnesota. That is not happening with Mayor Jacob Frey. That is not happening with Gov. Tim Walz (D). They are sanctuary jurisdictions who deny that ability to ICE, and then we start the dominoes falling, Senator. Then ICE has to go in with a team, then they have to find the illegal criminal alien, then you have the protesters who get in their way and impede the operation, then you get these tense situations.”
Welch responded, “The bottom line here is that good law enforcement depends on trust and trust within the community. It also depends on cooperation. When I talk to Vermont law enforcement, they’re appalled, and they ask questions about what was the training of ICE? Why are they picking up people just because of their accent or because of the color of their skin? It erodes that community support that you need.”
Later, Welch said, “The bottom line here, let me just say this very clearly, we need a secure border. Democrats understand that. We should be deporting criminals.”
Welch also criticized ICE tactics.
Cain then said, “I believe that Secretary Noem was wrong to come out and describe Renee Good as a domestic terrorist in the moments after that incident. However, I think this entire thing could be solved like that if Minnesota or California would behave the way that every other rational state behaves and doesn’t defy the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution and says what you said here today, put your actions behind your words, that you’re willing to turn over criminals to the federal government.”
Welch responded, “You’ve got a point, alright. But that requires cooperation, and cooperation requires trust. And having this massive influx of agents, this is where I think the president made a good gesture yesterday, where he says, let’s tone it down a little bit, let’s withdraw. That’s a strategic decision that can help calm the situation so you may be able to get to a level of cooperation that, generally, we’ve had between local law enforcement and federal law enforcement. That’s really essential. But trust is part of it. And that’s where the leadership of ICE has just gone nuts, really.”
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