PHOTO: Courtesy of WLUK
(WTAQ-WLUK) — A Northeast Wisconsin congressman and local Democratic leaders do not see eye-to-eye on recent immigration raids and anti-ICE protests across the country.
Rep. Tony Wied, R-8th District, announced Wednesday he introduced a bill to restrict federal funding from communities the Department of Justice deems “anarchist jurisdictions.”
It comes amid ongoing immigration enforcement protests happening nationwide, particularly in cities like Los Angeles and New York, where some of the protests have turned violent and resulted in hundreds of arrests.
Wied’s bill is called the SAFE (Stop Anarchists From Endangering) Cities Act. It would codify the memorandum President Donald Trump issued in summer 2020, following riots in response to the death of George Floyd. The memorandum restricts federal funding for any state or local jurisdiction the Department of Justice identifies to be permitting “anarchy, violence, or destruction.”
“The United States is a nation of laws, and I refuse to stand by and allow violent criminals to wreak havoc in our communities,” Wied said in a news release.
If radical leftwing governors and mayors continue to prioritize criminals and fail to protect their citizens from violent extremists, it is up to the federal government to step in and restore law and order. What we see happening in California is nothing short of anarchy and we will not tolerate it there or anywhere else in the United States of America.
Wisconsin Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-7th District, is one of the bill’s cosponsors.
Also on Wednesday, the Democratic Party of the 8th Congressional District of Wisconsin released a two-page statement in response to the recent ICE raids and protests. The 8th District encompasses Brown, Calumet, Door, Kewaunee, Marinette, Menominee, Oconto, Outagamie, Shawano and Waupaca counties.
In the letter, the Democratic leaders condemned nationwide militarized immigration raids as “inhumane, un-American, and an outrageous misuse of our military and tax dollars.”
Their statement reads, in part, “The deployment of armed federal agents and military personnel at schools, workplaces, courthouses, and even abducting people off the streets is not only morally indefensible but dangerously authoritarian.”
This is not a war zone. These are American neighborhoods.
The administration claimed that mass deportations would target “the worst of the worst”—criminals and gang members. Instead, we see the targeting of working families, children, caregivers, and neighbors who contribute to our communities every day. The cruelty is not a flaw of this policy—it is the point.
According to the letter, the leaders of the Democratic Party of the 8th Congressional District of Wisconsin “stand in unequivocal solidarity with the people of Los Angeles and all communities across this country targeted by the current administration’s inhumane immigration raids and militarized crackdowns.”
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