At Last! Light at the End of the Sanctuary City Tunnel

By Joe Guzzardi
August 5, 2016
 
Debate about sanctuary cities, be it at the municipal level, in Congress or on the presidential campaign trail, should start with this: federal law prohibits the existence of sanctuary cities. Since federal law supersedes local law, sanctuary cities that refuse Immigration and Customs Enforcement demands to turn over criminal illegal criminal aliens for possible deportation should be prosecuted by the Department of Justice.
 
But this is the Obama White House, and former Attorney General Eric Holder and current AG Loretta Lynch have, until recently forced to act, willfully turned a blind eye toward sanctuary cities, and allowed them to persist in their illegal practices. Not only has DOJ abdicated its responsibility to uphold the law, but it’s continued to fund sanctuary cities. Justice Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz’s recent report said that “over 140 state and local jurisdictions” may be receiving federal grants, despite law that demands grant recipients cooperate with ICE.
 
The Inspector General’s office reviewed 155 jurisdictions and found that in just ten of them the DOJ provided more than $341 million in State Criminal Alien Assistance grant monies. The $341 million represents about 63 percent of funding to all American cities.
 
Although immigration enforcement advocates have long worked to end sanctuary cities, the struggle has been straight uphill. When five-time deported, seven-time convicted Mexican national Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez killed Kate Steinle last year in San Francisco, the fatal consequences of setting criminal aliens free catapulted into the national headlines. In an astonishingly arrogant move, after Kate’s murder, San Francisco doubled down on its sanctuary status when the Board of Supervisors reaffirmed its commitment to protecting criminal aliens.
 
In a less widely reported case this June, illegal immigrant Bonifacio Oseguera-Gonzalez, who had been deported six times, shot and killed three people, and gravely injured a fourth on an Oregon blueberry farm. Oregon authorities ignored ICE’s request to turn him over.
 
Oseguera-Gonzalez’s release is an example of information contained in an internal ICE memorandum which showed that in less than a year, local sanctuaries released 9,295 alien offenders that the agency was seeking to deport. Of the 9,295 criminal aliens, 5,947, or 62 percent, had significant prior criminal histories including felonies and multiple misdemeanor charges. More than 600 people were released at least twice.
 
Utterly disgusted, the House Chair of Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Subcommittee, John Culberson, (R-TX) wrote to Lynch to advise her that he’s acting on his own legal authority to defund cities that refuse to cooperate with ICE. As Chair, Culberson can redirect how federal monies are spent, and move budget items from one line to another. Hence, money allocated to DOJ can, on Culbertson’s order, be removed and redirected elsewhere. Culberson’s no-nonsense message to Lynch: “State and local law enforcement agencies should not receive federal law enforcement grant money unless they are in compliance with federal law.”
 
Culberson’s insistence that cities cooperate with ICE or suffer the fiscal consequences puts those cities in a bind. If cities don’t comply, not only will they lose future funding, but they’ll have to return the past millions already spent which will exacerbate the existing budgetary crisis in already over-extended municipalities like Chicago and San Francisco.
 
Pressured, Lynch’s office announced that it would issue revised guidelines for local law enforcement’s compliance with ICE. Although tighter DOJ standards are too little, too late for Steinle and hundreds of other victims, Culberson’s brave move in Capitol Hill’s politically correct environment is a welcome step in the right direction.
 

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Joe Guzzardi is a Californians for Population Stabilization Senior Writing Fellow.  Contact Joe at [email protected] or find him on Twitter @joeguzzardi19.