Mass. Democratic Chair Skewers Trump, 'White Supremacist' Bannon After Administration Doubles Down on Immigration

MASSACHUSETTS – The Massachusetts Democratic Party on Monday ripped the Trump administration – going so far as to call White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon a "white supremacist" – after Attorney General Jeff Sessions called on sanctuary cities to enforce federal immigration laws.

"I strongly urge our nation’s states and cities ad counties to consider carefully the harm they are doing to our citizens by refusing to enforce our immigration laws, and to rethink these policies," Sessions said at the White House press briefing Monday.

According to CBS News, Sessions said the Justice Department will offer $4.1 billion in grants this year – but only to municipalities eligible to receive them. In Massachusetts, Somerville and Cambridge are self-described sanctuary cities, while communities like Newton, Boston, Northampton, Orleans, Amherst and Chelsea teeter on the edge with related legislation.

In response to Sessions' ultimatum, Massachusetts Democratic Party Chair Gus Bickford issued the following statement:

"Once again, the Trump Administration is showing its true colors by threatening to illegally strip cities of vital federal funding because they refuse to use local law enforcement to round up immigrants on a whim.

President Trump continues to ignore the fact that the United States is a nation of immigrants. Instead, he has installed white supremacists like Steve Bannon in the White House and established an agenda that pits Americans against each other, exploits immigrants, and undermines our American ideals of inclusion and diversity.

The President is trying to force our cities to join him in his bullying of immigrants and their families. Massachusetts Democrats stand with our sanctuary cities and immigrants across our Commonwealth, and we will help them fight this unconstitutional threat."

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