Speaking in a powerful hearing regarding the state of sanctuary cities and how those are putting Americans at risk by allowing violent, transnational crime and terror groups to sink their hooks into America, Subcommittee on Federal Law Enforcement Chairman Clay Higgins (R-LA) went nuclear on sanctuary city mayors.
That came back in March of 2025, as the representative spoke to Joseph Humire, the Executive Director at the Center for a Secure Free Society, who was broadly positive toward the Trump Administration for what steps it had already taken to deal with the border crisis and the consequences of it.
Humire said during his opening statement, for example, “The U.S. border and immigration crisis creates an unprecedented challenge for President Donald Trump and his new administration. Only one month and a half into President Trump’s term quick results are starting to show… Through executive action and prioritizing border and immigration security, President Trump is restoring order to the immigration anarchy the country endured the past four years but more needs to be done.”
Rep. Higgins, for his part, called out the sanctuary city mayors during the hearing, noting that they are releasing violent and dangerous criminals back out on our streets. He said, “So the sanctuary city mayors will say, ‘Yeah, we’re turning them all. We’re releasing them to ICE. We’re quote, unquote, following the law.’ But listen to what they’re saying, America: they’re releasing these guys into the parking lot!”
Continuing, the representative noted that their behavior is proving very unhelpful to ICE, “And when ICE contacts and they say, ‘Yeah, well, let him go. Two hours ago, he was last seen wearing this, walking in that direction.’ That’s not the way detainers have worked historically across the country.”
Then, addressing Mr. Humire, the representative said, “We have millions of people who have come into our country in the past four years in wave after wave. It was always known amongst law enforcement that policy caused that and policy could quickly fix it. We have proven that that is true since January 20th. But the people that are already here, what have they done to plug into the cartel networks and criminal networks across the country?”
Responding, he began by explaining the doctrine behind connecting the cartels to terror networks, saying, “So, Mister Chairman, there’s a concept that was used in the executive order that President Trump signed designating cartels as terrorist organizations. It’s a concept called convergence. And what convergence is is when you get terrorist organizations, criminal organizations, and you have illicit actors converging together under logistics.”
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Building on that, he explained how the cartel groups are tied to terror networks, saying, “What we’re seeing today is logistical networks being erected all throughout the United States as service providers. For example, if you’re an accountant for a major Mexican cartel, you are a good candidate to be an accountant for ISIS, al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, which are also operating within the United States.”
He further explained, “What this does is it empowers illicit economies and allows those illicit economies to grow and overtake counties, overtake states, and eventually overtake the country. We are seeing a convergence of criminals, terrorists, all kinds of illicit actors who may not agree, have turf battles, but fundamentally want the country to become illicit.”
The two then went on to discuss how the violent terror groups and cartels are battling for territory in America, often with sanctuary cities merely looking on and refusing to do much, if anything, as groups like Tren de Aragua take over territory. Watch them here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video