Maria Espinoza, founder of a victims rights group catering to Americans who have lost loved ones to illegal immigrant crime, sidestepped a question about President Donald Trump’s recent suggestion that he might pull Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers from California.
Espinoza, national director of The Remembrance Project, said Friday on “The Laura Ingraham Show” that the showdown between the Trump administration and “sanctuary city” supporters in the Golden State highlights the need to return to the rule of law.
“I won’t get into President Trump’s head,” she said. “However, I think the businesses and the citizens of California need to rise up and let the governor know that they prefer a civil society rather than a chaotic society.”
Trump’s threat came Thursday during a roundtable discussion at the White House. The president expressed frustration that California passed a law declaring itself a sanctuary state, prohibiting cooperation with ICE in most cases.
Trump said that without ICE, California would be “inundated” with “crime like nobody’s ever seen crime in this country.”
Espinoza (pictured above) said Gov. Jerry Brown is obligated to enforce the law, not thwart it.
“It’s pretty simple,” she told guest host John Hinderaker. “He took an oath, and he should do what he promised to do as far as putting his hand on the Bible and swearing an oath to our Constitution and legislating for the betterment of California and the citizens of California, not illegal aliens.”
Espinoza noted that her father immigrated — legally — from Mexico.
“I take great offense when people think it’s OK to sneak into another country,” she said.
Related: Trump Threatens to Pull ICE Out of ‘Sanctuary State’ California
Espinoza said elected officials who pass hard-core sanctuary policies are shielding illegal immigrants and should be prosecuted under federal law.
“Either we are a lawful nation, or we are a lawless nation,” she said. “And certainly, citizens cannot pick and choose which laws they want to follow.”
“We want to be able to, really, inject some common sense into this whole situation.”
Espinoza said a couple of high-profile prosecutions under the alien-harboring statute would “make an example” out of recalcitrant public officials. She said she would hope a judge orders those prosecuted officials to pay restitution to victims.
“And that’s what we want,” she said. “We want to be able to, really, inject some common sense into this whole situation.”
PoliZette senior writer Brendan Kirby can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter.
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