Thread: Menino blasts Romney on immigrant plan

http://news.bostonherald.com/immigratio ... eid=145819


Menino blasts Romney on immigrant plan
By Michele Mcphee and Kimberly Atkins
Tuesday, June 27, 2006 - Updated: 11:38 AM EST

Mayor Thomas M. Menino will not allow state troopers to bolster city police manpower in bullet-scarred neighborhoods of Boston because he disagrees with Gov. Mitt Romney’s position on arresting illegal immigrants.

Last week, Romney - who has offered to deploy State Police in the city - asked the federal government to approve a plan that would allow troopers to arrest illegal immigrants based solely on their immigration status.

“Governor Romney’s new edict to stop every immigrant out there is a problem,” Menino told the Herald in an interview this morning. “His stance on immigrants is troublesome to me. Boston is a city of immigrants.”

Menino, along with a coalition of city ministers, is expected to present a public safety proposal to Romney today that does not call for the use of State Police in city neighborhoods.

The Boston Police Department already uses troopers in specialized units such as the Youth Violence Strike Force and narcotics investigations. But Menino said he will not allow them to patrol city streets.

“The State Police will not be in our neighborhoods. We will present the governor with a community-based program, one program for Boston, that is coordinated,” Menino said. “We will give him a proposal that is a consortium of ideas.”

Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said: “We’re willing to be helpful in any way we can, and there are many different ways to be helpful. Whatever we do will be done in cooperation with the Mayor’s office.

“The State Police do not currently have the power to detain illegal aliens,” Fehrnstrom added, “and giving them that authority will entail lengthy negotiations with the federal government followed by specialized training. The earliest that could happen would be in the fall sometime.”

Menino’s comments come days after Romney, prompted by a rare visit to a Boston neighborhood, decided to deliver a handwritten note to the mayor offering the use of State Police resources to help patrol Boston.

“We love the offer, but the offer doesnt work,” Menino said. “There is a sensitivity needed in dealing with central, urban American neighborhoods. That’s something the Boston Police have. The State Police don’t know the people in the neighborhoods, they dont know the streets.”


***This mayor has done two flip flops on this issue of using the State Police to stop the daily murders in our city. He refuses to use the State Police because of the patrolmans unions claims of less overtime. What an excuse to let people keep dying in our city. No more overtime for officers which are basically useless to stop the wave of violence that has taken over our city. He also does not want enforcement of illegal aliens in the Commonwealth of MA as he blatantly does not want to enforce our laws. We gotta get the idiot out of office as he has been there too long and does nothing to fight crime in this city or benefit the taxpayers in any way.

Boston is a city of immigrants.”

Geez, are they all illegal????!!! It's ILLEGAL Mr. Mayor....get it.....??!! Nobody has a problem with Legal Immigrants, Mr. Mayor, so shut up and enforce the laws!!