New York Mayor Bill DeBlasio told CNN that he approves of the idea of shielding from deportation any illegal alien arrested for drunk driving.

During an interview on CNN’s State of the Union, host Jake Tapper pointed out to Mayor DeBlasio that the City of New York refuses to cooperate with the federal government to deport illegal aliens who have been convicted of drunk driving and grand larceny. Tapper went on to ask why the city is so quick to shield such dangerous criminals from deportation.

Tapper also asked DeBlasio for a response to the recent order President Donald Trump signed stating that federal grant money will be stripped “from the sanctuary states and cities that harbor illegal immigrants.” DeBlasio decried the move and insisted he opposes “tearing families apart” over a “small offense” such as drunk driving.

DeBlasio claimed these “small” crimes don’t merit deportation, but for “any serious and violent crime, we’re going to work with” the federal government. Still, DeBlasio claimed that drunk driving could easily be seen as a lesser offense.

“Drunk driving that does not lead to any other negative outcome, I could define as that,” DeBlasio said before going on to say, “Someone commits a minor offense… let’s say someone went through a stop sign, they could be deported for that and their family could be torn apart and you could have children left behind where the breadwinner in the family is sent back to a home country, that is not good for anyone.”

Of course, if someone is picked up and scheduled for deportation after being detained during a traffic stop, it isn’t the running of a stop sign that gets him deported; it’s being in the country illegally.

Drunk driving is not generally seen as a “small offense.” Nearly 10,000 Americans are killed by drunk drivers every year, according to The Hill newspaper.

Indeed, for years many activists have criticized what they feel are chronically lax drunk driving laws in many states in the U.S.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.