Sanctuary cities to lose funding by executive order

sanctuary cities, lose funding, federal immigration law, illegal immigrants

During a Press conference Friday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said that sanctuary cities don’t deserve federal funds for law enforcement, arguing their policies mean they don’t care enough about stopping crime.

Spicer said, “You can’t be a sanctuary city and at the same time seem to pretend or express concern about law enforcement or ask for more money when probably a number of the funds that you’re using in the first place are going to law enforcement to handle the situation that you’ve created for yourself.”

“If you have people who are in this country illegally that are part of a gang, that are a threat to public safety or committing a crime, then funding that activity and allowing that to fester is in itself a problem,” Spicer said. “By not rooting that out in the first place is allowing the problem to continue and not exactly showing an attempt to solve it.”

This week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Department of Justice would withhold federal grant money from sanctuary jurisdictions.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, and City of Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, along with several other mayors, have all vowed to remain sanctuary cites despite the fact those cities may lose funding.

All of the mayors have one thing in common; not one of them believe that illegal immigrants are a threat to legal citizens, or the city itself. The mayors of these cities have told their citizens that [they] comply with federal immigration laws, and do not release illegal immigrants who have been charged with a violent crime back onto the streets.

However, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents strongly disagree.

By the president’s executive order, “Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States,” ICE releases the Declined Detainer Outcome Report (DDOR) on a weekly basis.

The 25 page report shows that many county and city law enforcement agencies regularly release illegal immigrants who have been convicted of violent crimes. Many of those released have been convicted of domestic battery and sexual assault.

Multiple jurisdictions that DO NOT comply with ICE detainer requests:

  • Los Angeles, California
  • New York, New York
  • Kern, California
  • Clark, Nevada
  • San Diego, California
  • Orange, California
  • San Bernardino, California
  • Santa Barbara, California
  • Travis, Texas
  • King, Washington
  • Miami, Florida
  • Newark, New Jersey
  • Hernando County, Florida

Mayor Murray said he will not back down to Sessions’ threats to “cut” funding. He said cutting funding will be what make the cities less safe, not the illegal immigrants.

What do you think?