Trump's immigration & marijuana impact may boil down to state's rights
WBJ File
A potential fight with the federal government over Massachusetts medical and recreational marijuana will come down to a state's right to govern itself.
The federal government could go in different directions on two major issues involving states' rights, according to a prominent local Donald Trump supporter.
In an interview that aired Sunday, Rep. Geoff Diehl of Whitman told Jon Keller of WBZ that certain undocumented immigrants in so-called sanctuary cities could face prosecution under a Trump presidency, but said the federal government might need to defer to states that have legalized marijuana.
Marijuana supporters fear that given his track record, Sen. Jeff Sessions, Trump's nominee for attorney general, might crack down on marijuana legalization, which was extended in Massachusetts with passage in November of a ballot law legalizing the possession, sale and adult use of the drug.
"We've got medical marijuana, which I don't think changes," Diehl said. "We have new recreational marijuana ... But it is going to be very interesting to see where the federal movement on this is because a lot of states now have gone towards marijuana. I would think that Jeff Sessions is against it. But at the same time you have to look at the world of people and if you are a Federalist, if you're a believer in states' rights, they may have to work in a direction that goes towards what states want."
Sanctuary cities, while not a legal designation, are those where officials have put in place policies to prevent police and other officials from asking about immigration status or to use municipal resources to enforce federal immigration law. Cambridge, Somerville, Chelsea, Northampton and Springfield are among the Massachusetts communities that consider themselves part of the category.
"I think that Donald Trump made it very clear that he wants to eliminate sanctuary cities," Diehl said. "Massachusetts should prepare for a federal reaffirmment [sic] of that with Jeff Sessions as the new attorney general coming up very soon - I anticipate he'll be passed through the Senate hearings. And when that happens I think they should expect that there will be a reaffirmment of the federal mandate to work with ICE and other federal law enforcement officials to prosecute or get rid off people who are here criminally with criminal backgrounds."
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