Wisconsin Legislators Wise Up to Public Safety Threats of Sanctuary Cities

Immigration enforcement advocates got good news from Wisconsin recently. The State Assembly passed a bill that would end sanctuary city policies. According to the new bill, local governments that block law enforcement officers from sharing the immigration status of persons charged with a crime could have their state aid reduced anywhere from $500 to $5,000 for each day they refuse to cooperate with the law.

Illegal aliens in Wisconsin lobby for maintaining sanctuary status.

AB 450’s sponsor, John Spiros, said the murder of Kate Steinle by an illegal alien in San Francisco motivated him. Spiros drew comparisons between the San Francisco Country Sheriff’s office and its sanctuary policy and the City of Madison and the Milwaukee County Board that have similar non-cooperation procedures. The bill proceeds to the Senate, assuming it’s willing to consider it.

Separately, the Assembly and the Senate voted to ban local IDs, thereby minimizing illegal immigrants’ fraudulent access to certain public services. Since Wisconsin issues a free statewide identification card that specifically identifies who a person is and where he lives, local IDs are unnecessary.

Wisconsin’s action comes at an important time in the sanctuary city debate. While it’s easy to blame President Obama and Wisconsin’s Paul Ryan, the House Speaker whose Omnibus bill included sanctuary city funding, immigration activists are ramping up the pressure on local governments to ignore Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers. To date, their success has been notable. About 340 cities, counties and entire states – North Dakota and Rhode Island – reward lawlessness. As retired Assistant FBI director James Kallstrom told Megyn Kelly: “These sanctuary cities have to go.”

Americans support Kallstrom. Public resistance to sanctuaries is deepening. Recognizing that municipalities are breaking the law, and that Americans want sanctuaries eliminated, Rep. John Culberson (R-TX), chairman of the Commerce, Justice and Science Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, which oversees the Justice Department, wrote Attorney General Loretta Lynch earlier this month to warn that she must deny federal funding to sanctuary cities or risk losing money for DOJ’s other priorities. Culberson can deny DOJ funds without congressional approval.

Join other concerned Americans who want sanctuary cities to lose funding. Go to the CAPS Action Alert page here to tell your representatives to support S 1842, the Protecting American Lives Act, that would require state and local jurisdictions to collect immigration information on detained aliens and require them to share it with ICE.