TRANSCRIPT:
GIRTZ: "In the main, I cautioned against conflating immigration and crime. The data demonstrates that the two are not connected. Because the impact of federal immigration policy on localities has been under such consistent discussion in recent months, I do want to say a few words about this. It's my 18th year as a local government policy maker, and my work is overlapped with four U.S. presidencies and numerous iterations of Congress. All of them have failed to reach agreement on how to handle immigration."