Santa Fe mayor vows immigrant support
SANTA FE — Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales got choked up speaking to the city’s Immigration Committee on Tuesday, promising he will stand up for the city’s immigrants in the face of a new presidential administration some feel threatens their existence.
“This election has been very tough on our immigrant community,” he said to the committee and about 15 others in the audience. “You’ve had to endure from the earliest days of Donald Trump, a person who has called all of us rapists, thugs, murderers — an individual who has never spent a day in the life of an immigrant or a child hoping for the American dream. And the whole election was driven by trying to divide our country, by penalizing cities that were welcoming, that knew we were stronger when we provided opportunity for everybody.”
Gonzales — who after the election appeared on national media, including CNN, Fox News and National Public Radio, to defend “sanctuary cities” like Santa Fe that don’t help enforce federal immigration laws — said he remembered what his mother used to tell him: “You have a voice, you better use it to help people when they need help from us.”
The mayor then got emotional. “I want you to know how proud I am to be able to tell your stories,” he said, then pausing to gather himself before adding, “And talk about your struggles, your hope of being a part of country that respects you, and how you make our city special.”
“I want you to know as long as I have a voice, as long as I’m mayor, I will tell the beautiful stories of your families, your children, your contributions to our community, the fact that you make our country a great place by your presence, and to let you know that you shouldn’t have any fear.”
“We’re not going to let them come into our city and hurt and disrupt families that are contributing, who are raising children, who are in pursuit of our great American dream,” he said. Several people in the audience thanked the mayor for standing up for immigrants.
Later in the meeting, there was mention that Santa Fe would serve as a “refugee resettlement city” and that interfaith groups were preparing for the first family to arrive in January.