Republicans try to link sanctuary cities to the opioid epidemic. They fail.
Efforts to find solutions to the opioid epidemic have managed to stay mostly above the fray of partisan politics. But inject the issue of immigration into just about anything these days and even the pretense of unity evaporates.
A Feb. 15 hearing by the House Judiciary Committee’s immigration subcommittee was triggered by complaints from Nick Rodgers, president of the Denver police union, that Denver’s sanctuary city ordinance — which discourages officers from communicating with federal immigration authorities — is impeding efforts to combat the opioid crisis.
Trouble is, it turns out there’s precious little evidence to back that up. In fact, the Denver Police Department itself disagrees with Rodgers.
Things quickly devolved into a series of partisan barbs.
“It would seem to me that if tomorrow morning everyone magically woke up in their home country where they could legally reside, it would immediately stop all the illegal drug distribution in America,” said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa. He was responding to comments by Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., that Republicans “delight in scapegoating immigrants.”
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