Some Mayors Boycott Meeting With Trump Over Immigration Threat
DETROIT (WWJ) - Some members of the United States Conference of Mayors boycotted a planned meeting on infrastructure with President Trump Wednesday.
Many Democratic mayors refused the invite including New York Mayor Bill de Blasio citing the Department of Justice's renewed "racist assault on our immigrant communities. It doesn't make us safer and it violets America's core values."
The Justice Department fired off letters to 23 states, cities and counties Wednesday demanding they prove their police policies don't break a federal law requiring information-sharing when it comes to immigration.
Pontiac Mayor Deirdre Waterman is at the mayors conference in Washington D.C. and spoke about the move.
"I must not have been on the list or my invitation got lost in the mail because I was one of the ones who seemingly was not on the invitation list - and a number of the leaders who were invited in protest to the ultimatum that got handed down Tuesday -- did refuse to go," said Waterman.
The chairman of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, says an attack on mayors who lead welcoming cities is an attack on everyone in the conference -- adding he would boycott the meeting with Trump. Denver Mayor Michael Hancock was among those who declined the invite tweeting out, " ... better things to do than be part of a photo op for 45 as he threatens cities again."
Warren Mayor Jim Fouts, on the other hand, attended the meeting and described a memorable experience on social media.
"I was honored to participate in a White House conference of selected mayors to meet President Trump to discuss priorities that we have," Fouts posted on Facebook. Adding that Trump was very upbeat about the economy. "Included was the President's commitment of nearly 2 trillion dollars pledged to infrastructure needs of cities like Warren."
Trump called the mayors who boycotted the meeting more interested in "criminal, illegal immigrants over law-abiding Americans."
