Champions of dangerous and illegal sanctuary policies are trotting out a whole new line of arguments meant to push back against moves by the Trump administration to punish sanctuary jurisdictions by restricting certain federal funds. They’re now arguing that sanctuary policies actually improve public safety. Here are five reasons why that’s a bunch of nonsense:
- Police in some sanctuary communities insist that not having sanctuary policies reduces cooperation between immigrant communities and local police, thus hurting public safety. There’s only been one academic study on that thesis, and it found the exact opposite to be true. The University of Virginia and the Police Executive Research Forum tested the theory that police cooperation with immigration authorities results in lower crime reporting and greater victimization in immigrant communities. The report found no evidence of a decline in crime reporting by immigrants after implementing a policy to screen all offenders for legal status and refer illegal and criminal aliens to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE.)
- Current sanctuary policies result in dangerous criminal aliens being released back onto the streets. ICE issues detainer requests for aliens who are in local custody and who it believes are removable from the United States. During a recent one week period, (January 28 to February 3, 2017) Travis County, Texas denied 142 ICE detainer requests, releasing aliens convicted of: assault (8); domestic violence (10) and DUI (14); or charged with: Indecent Exposure to a Minor/Child Sex Offense: 6; DUI (16).
- Sanctuary policies are not necessary to “build trust” with immigrant communities, thus improving public safety. In fact, if an illegal alien provides helpful information to police, they may qualify for a “U,” “T,” “S” or “VAWA” visa, which would allow them to apply for permanent legal status in the U.S.
- Sanctuary campuses provide a welcome safe haven for would-be terrorists entering the U.S. on student visas. One such terrorist, Hani Hasan Hanjour, entered the U.S. on an F-1 student visa and on 9/11 flew a hijacked airplane into the Pentagon. Hanjour was able to repeatedly depart and re-enter the U.S., despite repeated student visa violations because of the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s (INS) skittishness over bad press when arresting and deporting foreign students. As a result, it simply ignored immigration violations by F-1, M-1, and J-1 students. The current spate of college and university refusals to cooperate with ICE is converting campuses into refuges for criminals and terrorists.
- Sanctuary policies hurt illegal immigrants. With the rise in human trafficking and sex slavery, police who turn a blind eye to a van full of illegal immigrants could actually be condemning them to a life of forced prostitution or slavery.