A group rallying in support of Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Saturday hosted Michelle Malkin Friday, giving the conservative columnist a forum to talk about the immigration crisis and the dangers of sanctuary cities days after their joint event at Bentley University was abruptly canceled.
Bostonians Against Sanctuary Cities hosted Malkin at the home of one of the organizers, livestreaming the event on Twitter, after Bentley revoked the group’s access to the university’s LaCava Center this week, citing contract violations.
Malkin, a bestselling author who backs legal immigration but opposes open borders, discussed her new book “Open Borders Inc.: Who’s Funding America’s Destruction,” alongside Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies.
They are expected to join Bostonians Against Sanctuary Cities for a rally in support of ICE at 10 a.m. Saturday at the agency’s Burlington detention center.
In her talk Friday, Malkin called for an “overall immigration moratorium” — a temporary halt to allow assessment and reform.
She said there is “a sense of this overwhelming of the system, sometimes deliberate, sometimes accidentally, that has created not only security issues but economic threats to the American workforce.”
In discussing her latest book, Malkin said special interests in the religious, legal and political communities have “created this perfect storm that is trying to turn our sovereign nation into a sanctuary nation.”
Vaughan told the Herald this week that the discussion with Malkin comes “at a critical time for the commonwealth of Massachusetts, when a couple weeks after this the Legislature is going to be considering a sanctuary bill.”
On Friday Vaughan said, “We don’t want to end up like the state of California” and other sanctuary states.
“The public safety, the human costs, are just too great,” she said.
Bostonians Against Sanctuary Cities was initially supposed to host Malkin at the Bentley University center, for which they had signed a contract to use in early October and put down a $500 deposit.
On Tuesday, the Conference Center at Bentley University pulled the plug on the event, saying the group “failed to adhere to the terms of a signed contact” including projected audience size and the “scope of the event,” and refunded the deposit.
Malkin, who had derided the cancellation of the Bentley event as an example of “cancel culture,” arrived in Boston Friday with a show of defiance on social media, posting photos and videos from around the area using the hashtag #MalkinBannedInBoston.
“They pulled the plug, but they did not pull the plug on my big mouth,” Malkin said in a video encouraging her followers to tune in.
