Sanctuary Cities Believe They Are Above The Law

From Tea Party News Network:

Houses Passes Bill to Punish Sanctuary Cities

July 24, 2015 By Colleen Conley

The House voted Thursday to punish sanctuary cities that shield illegal immigrants from deportation, in the wake of 32-year-old Kate Steinle’s murder by a 5 time deported criminal illegal alien earlier this month.

Republicans state the bill will prevent more homicides, while Democrats defended sanctuary policies as good policing and accused Republicans of exploiting tragedy.

President Obama vowed to veto the bill, despite the fact that a report released yesterday showed that his policies will allow 87% of illegal immigrants to remain in the United States.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Duncan Hunter, California Republican, would withhold federal grant money from jurisdictions that refuse to abide by a federal law that requires them to provide information to immigration agents.

“It’s simple. If you don’t comply with the law, as it stands now, then you don’t receive coveted federal money intended for enforcement,” Mr. Hunter said. “It’s time we stand up to sanctuaries and begin holding them accountable for their failure to uphold the law.”

Obama’s immigration policy from November is coming under increasing scrutiny. The Migration Policy Institute, a leading thing tank on immigration, calculated that the president’s enforcement priorities shield 9.6 million illegal immigrants from any danger of deportation.

While the White House defended the president’s approach, saying it leaves agents free to pursue the worst actors with serious criminal records, it failed to address the fact that many of the worst criminals will simply move to sanctuary cities to seek refuge from deportation.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has acknowledged releasing tens of thousands of convicted criminals onto the streets. Republicans say ICE has lost track of hundreds of thousands of fugitive criminals in the U.S. illegally.

Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez, the man accused of killing Kate Steinle, had been deported five times and was still being sought by ICE agents, but the Federal Bureau of Prisons shipped him to San Francisco instead on a decades-old drug warrant. H/T Washington Times

Meanwhile in the Senate, Republican senators unveiled legislation Thursday to force “sanctuary cities” to cooperate more closely with federal officials on immigration.

The bill would “require state and local jurisdictions to notify the federal government when a criminal alien is in their custody; it will withhold funds from any local jurisdiction that releases an alien after a federal detainer has been placed on them; and it will establish a 5-year minimum prison sentence for deported aliens who attempt to illegally re-enter the United States,” said the bill sponsor, Sen. Jeff Sessions in a statement, according to the Washington Examiner.

A top Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a former mayor of San Francisco, says the sanctuary policy needs to be revisited. If she and Republicans can come to an agreement, it could gain momentum for a sanctuary crackdown and put the Obama administration in a tough position.

Homeland Security officials used to support punishment for sanctuary cities. Three years ago, the head of ICE testified to Congress that withholding grant money would be a good idea. But the administration has reversed itself under intense pressure from immigrant rights advocates.