Rauner urged to take a stand against Trump sanctuary city threat

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

A pair of influential aldermen demanded Friday that Gov. Bruce Rauner “stand up for Chicago” and against President-elect Donald Trump’s first 100 days promise to cut off federal funding to so-called “sanctuary” cities.


Ald. Danny Solis (25th), former chairman of the City Council’s Hispanic Caucus, and Ald. Ameya-Pawar (47th), chairman of the Asian-American Caucus, said they are particularly concerned because Rauner tried last year to temporarily block the flow of Syrian refugees into Illinois in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris.

“You can’t have it both ways. You can’t run elections downstate and benefit from the popularity of Donald Trump and then come up to Chicago and not utter his name,” Pawar said.

Referring to Rauner, Pawar said, “This is a guy who decided to play politics and talk about banning Syrian refugees well before the Trump campaign had taken off. My question is, where are you on this? Are you going to fight for the city and ensure that all of our funding stays in place because we are a sanctuary city? Are you going to stand up for Chicago and to a president-elect who is essentially threatening to eviscerate programs in major cities across America?”

Solis agreed that it’s time for Rauner to declare his support of Chicago’s status as a “sanctuary city” where illegal immigrants can live without fear of police harassment.

“I’m hoping that Gov. Rauner puts politics aside and stands with us to support and protect immigrants,” Solis said Friday.

“It’s the right thing to do and the best thing to do for the city. We don’t want to create a panic in communities of color that leads to violence.”

The governor’s office had no immediate comment on the demand that Rauner take a stand on Trump’s threat to cut off all federal funding to Chicago and other sanctuary cities.

Got that? Threatening violence if the thugs on Chicago City Council don't get to continue to break federal immigration law.