New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has stepped her calls for illegal aliens who commit crimes to be deported.
Political leaders in New York have stepped up their calls to deport illegal immigrants who break the law after a shocking video emerged showing a group of individuals believed to be illegal immigrants kicking and punching two police officers near Times Square.
After first saying on Jan. 31 that deporting illegal immigrants who beat the New York Police Department officers “should be looked at,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Feb. 1 ramped up her deportation rhetoric.
“Get them all and send them back,” Ms. Hochul told reporters during an unrelated press conference on developments in the New York subway, per the New York Post.
“You don’t touch our police officers,” she added.
Then, during a Feb. 2 press conference, Ms. Hochul again mentioned that assault on a police officer in among over 100 crimes that can “lead to deportation,” adding that she plans on speaking with the Manhattan District Attorney to discuss “options.”
Asked about the immigration status of the suspects, Ms. Hochul said her office has not independently confirmed that they’re in the country without authorization but she cited the DA’s office and the police as having identified them as illegal immigrants.
Ms. Hochul’s latest remarks are sharper in tone than her previous reaction to the assault on police officers, when she said that, “if someone commits a crime against a police officer in the state of New York and they’re not here legally, it’s definitely worth checking into.”
On the day of Ms. Hochul’s first remarks, New York City Mayor Eric Adams took a similar view.
Speaking on a broadcast of New York’s PIX11 news, Mr. Adams said that those asylum-seekers who are here because they “want to be part of the American dream, we say yes to that. But those that are breaking our laws, we need to reexamine the laws that don’t allow us to deport them, because they’re doing violent acts.”
“We cannot create an atmosphere where you’re going to bring violence into our city,” Mr. Adams added.
