Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) said Thursday that his administration is preparing should the commonwealth become the next target of President Trump’s immigration crackdown amid growing concerns about clashes between residents and federal law enforcement officers across the country.
“I’m not going to get into specifics of what we’re doing. … But I can tell you that we have ratcheted up our preparation should this come, and that is going to involve not just law enforcement response but working closely with the community,” Shapiro said during an event hosted by The Christian Science Monitor in Washington, D.C.
“And so I want the community to know where I stand. I hear them, and I want them to know that we’re going to be in partnership together to make sure that they are safe and protected in our country,” Shapiro added.
Shapiro declined to go into further detail, noting only that his government was “prepared on every level.” He did, however, acknowledge there may be some limitations to his ability to respond should Trump decide to move in.
“If the president of the United States seeks to impose his will and the federal will on the commonwealth, there may be some things we can’t stop,” Shapiro said, adding that he had taken lessons from previous federal deployments in California, Illinois and Minnesota.
“We have the benefit of hindsight there, and we’ve been preparing, and I think we have some things that we believe would be deployed to keep our citizens safe,” he continued.
