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A New York state senator has urged liberal states to secede from the U.S. and to join Canada in response to Donald Trump’s threats of mass deportations.
“It’s not unreasonable to think outside of the box,” state Sen. Liz Krueger told Politico.
Krueger previously suggested that northeastern states including New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont join Canada before Trump won the election.
She stated that it would not be the “fault” of New Yorkers or other eastern states that traditionally vote blue if Trump became president, as reported by City & State in September.
The state senator also proposed withholding hundreds of billions of dollars in federal taxes as a way to push back against the president-elect’s policies that the state lawmaker disagrees with, such as threats of mass deportation.
“We’re talking a lot of money,” Krueger told Politico. “We’re talking money we couldn’t possibly replace unless we started sending the feds a lot less money.”
While New York sends the federal government about $362 billion to the federal government in taxes, the state also receives about $85 billion from the government.
Krueger’s proposal has received widespread skepticism from politicians across both sides of the aisle. About 43% of voters in New York voted for Trump in the recent election.
Democratic leaders in states across the country have stated that they would not cooperate with Trump’s proposed deportations, including Illinois, California, Oregon and Massachusetts.
