WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton on Wednesday proposed making cities that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration policies -- so-called sanctuary cities -- ineligible for federal immigration and law enforcement grants.
If considered and approved, the Dardanelle Republican's amendment would be added to the Every Child Achieves Act of 2015, which the Senate is debating this week.
The amendment comes on the heels of a shooting death of a woman on a San Francisco pier July 1. The man accused in the shooting is a Mexican alien who had been deported repeatedly and has a history of nonviolent felonies. Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez pleaded innocent in San Francisco Superior Court on Tuesday.
San Francisco is among many sanctuary cities that generally do not voluntarily cooperate or communicate with immigration officials about enforcement. City law enforcement had released Sanchez in April despite urging from the Department of Homeland Security that he be returned to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to be deported again, according to The Washington Post.
Sanctuary city is not defined in federal law, and it isn't clear how many U.S. cities fall into the category, according to a 2009 report by the Congressional Research Service, although well-known examples include Chicago, Houston and New York City. In many cases, city officials release illegal immigrants and aliens convicted of misdemeanors after they have served their jail time rather than turning them over to federal officials for deportation. Those convicted of violent crimes are often sent to immigration officials, according to The Washington Post.
"The senseless murder of a young woman in San Francisco last week tragically illustrates that the politicization of the immigration debate has now swamped even common-sense efforts to protect public safety. It is unacceptable that cities would issue ordinances that explicitly aim to frustrate federal immigration laws that are supposed to keep illegal immigrant felons off the streets," Cotton said in a statement. "U.S. taxpayers shouldn't be expected to support such misguided local policies that put their safety in jeopardy."
Since the fatal shooting of 32-year-old Kate Steinle in California, several presidential candidates have embraced restrictions or penalties for cities that don't comply with federal immigration policies, including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee; U.S. Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas; and business magnate Donald Trump, according to news reports.
Metro on 07/09/2015