The Trump-Emanuel Letter
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
The following — strictly a suggested draft letter — was prepared by The New York Sun as an unsolicited service to the President-elect.
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Dear Rahm :
That was a really great meeting today, really great. I appreciate your making the trip, particularly with all the problems you have there. I am sorry to hear about them. I really am. Chicago deserves better. And I’m going to do everything I can to help you out.
I have now read the petition from yourself and the mayors of 16 other municipalities regarding the children brought here illegally. You make an eloquent case for keeping open the program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals until Congress passes immigration reform.
It’s not clear to me why our country’s other 286 incorporated places with more than 100,000 persons failed to sign your petition. Their combined numbers are, after all, “yuge.” Anyhow, I have taken the liberty of sharing your petition with my team, and if they are inclined to do it, I’ll be inclined to consider it.
However, I will have a condition — which is that Chicago is going to have to abandon this business about being a so-called “sanctuary city.” The sanctuary city movement puts these municipalities at odds with the federal government on immigration law enforcement.
Eleven of the cities that signed your petition are sanctuary cities. I heard your very eloquent plea on the sanctuary movement, but the more I think about it, the more I think it’s bunk and it’s destructive and, most importantly, it is contemptuous of the Constitution. And it undercuts your standing to ask me to do anything.
You Democrats and Hillary Clinton had a lot of fun bringing out Khizr Khan at the your convention to — shockingly, in the name of his martyred son — mock me and demand to know whether I’ve read the Constitution. Just for the record, I have a sister who’s a United States Circuit Judge.
And I know enough to know that the Constitution says that every officer, legislator, and judge, not only of the federal government but of the state and local governments, must be bound by oath to support the Constitution. And that you swore to our national parchment when you became mayor.
I understand that you don’t need me to tell you about the supremacy clause. It is huge. Huge. And it says that the Constitution, the treaties ratified by the Senate, and the laws of the United States are the “supreme law of the land.” Which shall bind the judges in every state, anything in the state constitutions and laws notwithstanding.
So on federal immigration law, mark it well, sanctuary cities are in defiance. That is not just Republican me talking. President Obama’s administration is the author of the May 31, 2016, Justice Department memo making this clear. I attach a copy herewith, though I am well aware that you’re aware of it.
What you need to know about the difference between you and me is that you are sworn only to “support” the Constitution. But I am going to be sworn to “preserve, protect and defend it.” That is wording the Constitution parquets in particular for the president. And it is my intention to do that right down the line.
By the way, it is my understanding that not even such a notorious backer of open immigration as The New York Sun is prepared to support a campaign of nullification of federal law. So I look forward to working with you when you and your cosignatories are prepared to adhere to the constitutional oath. And, again, congratulations on the Cubs. Yuge. Really, really yuge.
Yours faithfully,