WASHINGTON, D.C.—Sanctuary cities are a menace to public safety. A recent move in the House of Representatives to cut their funding is long overdue.
There are more than 300 sanctuary jurisdictions nationwide—not just cities, like New York, but also counties like Chicago’s Cook County and even whole states like California, that refuse to cooperate with immigration authorities and release deportable criminals back onto the streets.
According to the Department of Homeland Security's own records, in 2014 more than 9,000 criminal aliens whom DHS wanted to deport were released instead, because of local sanctuary policies.
More than 2,000 of them went on to commit new crimes, including murder, sexual assault on young children, rape, burglary, assault, dangerous drug offenses and drunk driving. Many are still at large.
One of the many American victims of sanctuary policies was Kate Steinle, killed last year by an illegal-alien felon whom San Francisco refused to turn over to immigration authorities for return to his home country.
Another was high school football star Jamiel Shaw Jr., murdered in 2008 by an illegal alien gang member protected by Los Angeles' notorious Special Order 40, one of the nation's first sanctuary measures.
The Remembrance Project preserves the stories of these and other Americans killed by illegal aliens, many of them shielded by sanctuary cities.
Congress prohibited local sanctuary policies in 1996, as an intrusion on the federal role in immigration enforcement, but the law had no teeth.
The best way to get compliance is to use the power of the purse—cut off federal funding to jurisdictions that continue to defy federal law. Half-hearted attempts have been made in the past to do this in budget bills, none of them successful.
That may change. Rep. John Culberson (D-TX), chairman of the House subcommittee in charge of funding for the Department of Justice, recently wrote the Attorney General demanding, among other things, that three grant programs that give more than $1 billion to state and local governments be made off-limits to sanctuary jurisdictions.
As he noted in his letter, "Communities that do not work with Federal law enforcement officials, in violation of Federal law, should not expect to receive Federal grant funding from the Department of Justice."
In addition, the congressman made clear that he and his Senate counterpart, Richard Shelby (R-AL), would use their ongoing authority over Justice Department spending to pressure the administration. This matters because federal agencies often need to "reprogram" funds—in other words, use them for a different purpose than specified in the original budget bill.
This can only be done with the prior approval of the relevant House and Senate committees. Culberson has said no reprogramming requests for Justice Department headquarters funds—as opposed to, say, FBI field offices—would be approved until sanctuary funding is cut off.
This is no empty threat. Rep. Culberson successfully used this tool last year to get the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (the ATF) to drop a proposed ban on a certain kind of ammunition sought by gun-control advocates.
The current fiscal year ends September 30, so it's at least possible that the Obama Administration will somehow make it til then without having to go to Culberson for "reprogramming" approval.
But if he keeps his word and includes a sanctuary cities ban in next year's budget bill, it could set up a conflict if Senate Democrats choose to filibuster it or the president vetoes it.
That could actually be a useful fight to have, with one side working to deport criminal aliens, and the other working to protect them.
Laura Wilkerson, whose son Joshua was brutally murdered by an illegal alien, told a Senate hearing last fall: "I don't want sympathy. I want you to do something."
She’s right! Doing something about the scandal of sanctuary cities is long overdue.
Mark Krikorian is executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, , a nonpartisan research organization that examines and critiques the impact of immigration on the United States. He holds a master’s degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University. Readers may write him at Center for Immigration Studies. 1629 K Street NW, Suite 600. Washington, DC 20006.
