Thread: N.Y. Cuomo, AG push back on Trump policies

Cuomo, AG push back on Trump policies

Joseph Spector , WGRZ 6:20 PM. EST February 22, 2017




ALBANY -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman separately vowed Wednesday to fight federal attempts to crack down on illegal immigration and overhaul health-care laws.

The Democratic leaders blasted President Trump's plans to toughen immigration enforcement and repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.

The comments came a day after the Trump administration said it would expand the authority of federal agents to go after immigrants in the country illegally who are deemed criminals and terror threats.

But the orders were so broad that critics feared it could impact the roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country.

“President Trump does not have the legal authority to unilaterally transform state and local police officers into federal immigration enforcement agents," Schneiderman said in a statement.

New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (Photo: WGRZ)


Last month, Schneiderman issued legal guidance to local governments that contended they have the right to reject Trump's immigration orders.

A number of upstate cities, including Rochester and Syracuse, have declared themselves '"sanctuary cities," meaning they would not enforce some of the federal immigration laws.

"State and local law enforcement agencies cannot be forced to participate in President Trump’s destructive and ill-advised deportation policies," Schneiderman said. "No one is better at keeping New York neighborhoods safe than the local law enforcement agencies that do so every single day."

Schneiderman and New York cities, including Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo and Yonkers, have backed a lawsuit that aims to block Trump's Jan. 27 order to bar people from coming into the U.S. from seven nations with Muslim majorities.

For his part, Cuomo spoke at a Bronx rally with union leaders and lawmakers to pledge he would fight attempts by Republicans to strip health insurance for the more than 3 million New Yorkers enrolled in the state's health-insurance exchange.

He urged fellow Democrats in Washington to fight Republicans' policies.

"They better stand up, and they better fight," Cuomo said.

"They better show us what they’re made of because there is no going back. They have to learn – they have to stand up and learn from what the Republicans did when they didn’t agree with something."

Cuomo said a repeal of Obamacare could leave a $3 billion hole in the state's budget. New York has one of the nation's largest health exchanges, called the NY State of Health.

"The other side doesn't see this," Cuomo said of Republicans. "They don't come from a community that has large immigrant populations, but we do. And the Affordable Care Act is the same thing. It's night and day. It's a different reality. We say, 'People need health care.''"

http://www.wgrz.com/news/cuomo-ag-pu...cies/412814850

Such destructive talk and actions.

Shameful.