{"id":16670,"date":"2018-03-16T14:07:51","date_gmt":"2018-03-16T18:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/?p=16670"},"modified":"2018-12-28T10:44:11","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T15:44:11","slug":"funding-sanctuary-jurisdictions-already-crosshairs-fy2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2018\/03\/16\/funding-sanctuary-jurisdictions-already-crosshairs-fy2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Funding for Sanctuary Jurisdictions Already in the Crosshairs for FY2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
This week Congressman Steve King<\/a> (R-Iowa) led a group of 48 lawmakers to ask both Homeland Security and Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies appropriators to include language in their FY2019 bills that would prevent funds from going to jurisdictions with sanctuary policies in place.<\/p>\n Sanctuary policies are laws, ordinances, resolutions, executive actions, or any initiatives that prohibit local officials from inquiring, acting on, or reporting an individual’s immigration status\u2014even when there is reasonable suspicion that an individual is in the country illegally. Many sanctuary policies restrict law enforcement agencies from cooperating with federal immigration officials, including prohibiting their compliance with immigration detainers. The U.S. is currently home to hundreds<\/a> of sanctuary jurisdictions.<\/p>\n While there are countless examples that demonstrate how dangerous sanctuary policies are to the American people, undoubtedly, the most well-known is the story of Kate Steinle\u2014<\/a> an example that Rep. King cites in his request:<\/p>\n \u201cWe need not remind you of the shocking case of Kate Steinle in San Francisco in 2015, which revealed the danger sanctuary cities pose to our Republic. Steinle was shot and killed by Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, an illegal immigrant who had been deported five times. San Francisco authorities were asked to detain Sanchez until he could be turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials.\u201d The letter continues, \u201cthe city declined and held Sanchez in jail for less than a month on a 20-year-old drug charge before releasing him on April 15, 2015, less than two months before he killed Steinle.\u201d<\/p>\n Last summer, the House of Representatives passed legislation known as \u201cKate\u2019s Law<\/a>\u201d to strengthen punishments for individuals that illegally renter the United States after deportation. In conjunction, Representatives also passed the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act<\/em><\/a> to withhold certain federal grants from sanctuary jurisdictions\u2014 a measure so common sense that even a few Democrats voted in favor of it.<\/p>\n However, the Senate has not yet passed these vital pieces of legislation and as such, Congressman King is right to try to utilize the Congressional Power of the Purse to fight these dangerous policies.<\/p>\n