WASHINGTON – Senate Republicans blamed the Obama administration’s immigration policies for murders committed by immigrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexican border illegally.
They also pushed for new laws that would cut federal funding to local law-enforcement agencies that do not report undocumented immigrants during criminal investigations. The topic was addressed Tuesday, July 21. during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
The topic of illegal immigration gained new prominence after a San Francisco woman, Kathryn Steinle, was shot to death. The suspect is a man who has been deported five times and has several felony convictions.
Jim Steinle, Kathryn’s father, asked committee members to pass stricter immigration laws.
“Unfortunately, due to unjointed laws and basic incompetence of the government, the U.S. has suffered a self-inflicted wound in the murder of our daughter by the hand of a person that should have never been on the streets in this country,” Steinle said.
Five of the 10 witnesses the Senate committee head from were family members of people who had been killed by immigrants without documents — all five criticized current immigration law and asked for new laws.
“We will honor Josh, Kate, Dennis, Danny, Grant, and many others whose lives were tragically cut short because of this administration’s lax immigration policies,” Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said during the hearing. Many of the proposed laws are named after these victims.
For example, Kate’s Law would create a mandatory minimum five-year prison sentence for anyone caught illegally entering the United States a second time.
Another bill would require city and state law-enforcement officials to notify federal authorities of any immigrants who may be eligible for deportation.
San Francisco declared itself a sanctuary city in 1989.
J. Thomas Manger, president of the Major Cities Chiefs Association and chief of police for Montgomery County Md., warned against laws that might try to punish police departments by taking money away from them.
“Immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility. It is and always has been. Local agencies cannot be expected to take on these additional duties,” Manger said. “The decision to have local law enforcement to perform the duties of federal immigration agents should be left to local government. It should not be forced on them by the threat sanctions or the threat of withholding of existing police assistant funding.”
Elizabeth Sullivan, left, mother of the San Francisco woman killed by an undocumented immigrant, sits with her son, Brad Steinle, and his fiancee, Amy Warehouse, Tuesday during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
Manger said local law-enforcement agencies could lose the trust of the people they are sworn to protect if they start checking for immigration status.
This sentiment was echoed by Grace Huang, coordinator for the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
She warned that immigrants who are victims of crime will avoid police if local law enforcement is forced to act like border patrol officers — allowing criminals to go unreported.
“When immigrants are afraid to come forward with information about a crime, the entire community is less safe,” Huang said.
In March, Sarah Saldaña, director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said that she would support requirements that local law enforcement hold immigrants for ICE.
However, she backedpeddled from that statement the following day.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, suggested that it was Obama administration insiders who forced her to change her answer.
Cruz, who is campaigning for the Republican nomination for president, accused the Obama administration of protecting criminals and refusing to follow federal law.
“If President Obama had the courage of his convictions, he would come look in the eyes of these men and women who lost their sons, daughters, mothers and sisters, and the administration would stop releasing murders and rapists,” Cruz said.
Cruz is one of the few Republican candidates for president who has not condemned Donald Trump’s comment that many Mexican immigrants are rapists.
Laura Wilkerson, mother of Josh Wilkerson who was killed five years ago by an undocumented immigrant, said she’s been working toward changing the laws since her son died. She thanked Trump “for getting the message out.”
Jonathan A. Capriel
Reach Jonathan A Capriel at [email protected] or 202-408-1489.
Dave Francis • Jul 23, 2015 at 3:41 PM
My personal attitude toward Donald Trump is that he doesn’t play the same game on gullible members of the public as a refined speaker as Jeb Bush. He certainly doesn’t need to, because he is exempt from any temptation that’s applicable to Washington. Hillary Clinton—the less said about her the better. She is carrying that memorable Albatross bird (In the Rime of the Ancient Mariner bringing bad luck). If Hillary gets elected through good or bad cheating, using illegal alien voters to win the top Job. Her philosophy to make every illegal alien a legitimate citizen must be identified as a collapse of the law and our country overrun with millions of people who are unable to speak the English language, causing balkanisation, We have already had one President, who is trying to turn this country into a third world country. The Oval office is like a cornucopia of sharing the good fortune of others.
He has treated illegal aliens the same as citizens, which maybe idealistic, but it just draws into our sovereign land more poverty of which taxpayers must provide the cost. Illegal aliens, including ‘Overstays’ should be penalized and that will happen under Trump, whether he leads the Conservative side of the party (not the GOP elitists) or the inception of a new ‘Donald’ party. Millions have heard the true word, whether his incompetent actions in foreign policy or the poor economic state of America.
Donald Trump is a harsh, brazen speaker that doesn’t need anybody else’s money. You cannot contain his enthusiasm and would defend America from Domestic and foreign enemies. The politicians, who verbally attacked him, got exactly back the same measure of rudeness. THE CAREER POLITICIANS IN THE GOP BETTER START BEING NICE TO MR> TRUMP AS HE WILL BEGIN A THIRD PARTY, TAKING MILLIONS OF CONSERVATIVES AWAY.
Whatever your political party affiliation, We, You, Me, should sign the petition for Kate’s law. There is no guarantee that it will pass, because the masters of the GOP establishment and the Democratic open-border zealots, have probably been bombarded by Special Interests to leave well alone. It’s without any doubt in my mind the faxes, text and phone calls came in from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Silicon Valley, the Tobacco and pharmaceutical, Hollywood Liberals and businesses that they don’t want cheap labor or new consumers touched. Trade Unions and all the radical minority organizations as La Raza have been communicating with members of both parties ‘to Cease and desist’ otherwise their threatened questionable money machine will dry up? Their campaign coffers will not be spilling over with hundred dollar bills. There rich donors will turn their backs on the career legislators, and look for new recruits to their unsavory money pledges.
All the wealthy owners of Jeb Bush, Lindsey Graham and John McCain cannot collect their shut your mouth money and do as you’re told. It’s the same with King Obama and his Imperial Court. We sliced our own throats, when we voted for Obama, included me? I was a damn right idiot and voted for one of the worst bungling president for decades. We were deceived into voting for a Marxist, who wants to control every American. To me this came to light, when he utilized the IRS, to begin his spying campaign on Tea Party members.
In a very short space of time this administration has pandered to illegal aliens instead of deporting them as according to the Rule of Law, and parties have ignored the cries of maimed veterans coming back from wars abroad. Yet billions of dollars have been taken from taxpayers, to pay for their welfare programs. Funds taken from our Vets, Senior citizens, US citizens, lawful residents, who worked for a comfortable retirement, who instead next year is expected to, have their Social Security cut. At least that’s what I have heard. Nobody and I mean nobody who entered this country illegally should be allowed to stay.
IT’S BEEN A SETUP FOR DECADES; A PERFECTLY ALIGNED CONSPIRACY.
1. Just think about it. Both political Parties have completely ignored building that inevitable fence or wall that Donald Trump has pledged.
2. Entering this sovereign nation, without proper papers is a misdemeanor and not recognized as a Felony.
3. Both political parties have that ulterior motive; to leave the borders open because their special interests demand it.
4. The Democrats are intentionally trying to compromise the election laws, so there is no mandatory requirement for carrying an official photo ID card into the voting center. With this requirement and the uninterrupted influx of illegal aliens and ignoring the perjury law that ONLY citizen can vote—illegal aliens and even legal residents who CANNOT vote will anyway. On close narrow races could illegally turn the tide on any candidate race.
Next year premiums are expected to rise on Obamacare, with Liberal states issuing Medicaid to illegal aliens, who have paid nothing into the system. With Obama’s preferential order, he used his pen to pass amnesty, but for now it’s wrapped up tightly in the courts and who knows the outcome. If there are judges who literary write their own interpretation, then this menace called Obama, will be able to change America into a socialist society—all run and controlled by bureaucrats. Government agencies will grow even bigger and all control will come from Washington, DC. Giant agencies that include (EPA) Environment Protection, Education and many more should revert to the states. This is one of the major reason why Texas wanted to abandon the union.
Government was never meant under the designs of the U.S.Constitution to have power over ever body’s life. That’s not America is all about? Obama’s ideology is steer us into the hands of the United Nations, so they can tax us; oppress us with foreign judicial system and take away our rights to self rule. Without any warning to the American he has unloaded prisons of criminal aliens. Along come new Presidential candidate Donald Trump, billionaire businessman defying Washington’s all-powerful ‘K’ Street lobbyists rules and dare to speak out about the illegal alien invasion. Then two weeks ago the beans were further spilt, with the killing of Kate Steinle, was the final straw for this outrage of not enforcing the law.
A criminal is a criminal—criminal alien or not? The role of any government is to keep the criminals off our streets. Law enforcement has but one purpose, to arrest those breaking the law, whether municipal, State or Federal. Sanctuary cities are political ordinances, not laws, arranged illegally by defenders of criminal deeds. In every other case, people like the average American arrested and locked away. The conveyors of special privileges for illegal aliens should in custody right now, like the sheriff in San Francisco; arrested as co-conspirator and anybody else? The Mayor of San Francisco is a co-conspirator in the murder of Kate Steinle—as his Royal Highness Obama.
Were it not for them holding office where there is never, ever an accounting for very few elected officials; they would be trying to find bail money. This Government has culpability of tens of thousands of crimes by foreign nationals. In the past three years Obama has given 172,000 ( CIS /Center for Immigration Studies) http://www.cis.org; not a misprint) illegal aliens were released from jail or prison amnesty. Their new crimes are Obama’s crimes, according to our laws. He knew they some of them committed heinous criminals acts and he put them back on the street, knowing decent Americans would become prey to this pariah that walks among us.
Those instrumental in sanctuary city policies claim that crime victims and witnesses to crimes who are in the country unlawfully are reluctant to collaborate with police if they believe police will cooperate with (ICE) immigration Agents. But the policy of holding a criminal for ICE simply doesn’t apply to victims and witnesses. While their disinclination may sound plausible on the surface, it ignores one easy and inconvenient fact: there is no study or other pragmatic evidence viewing that sanctuary city ordinances have helped solve crimes by increasing cooperation with police and District Attorneys.
Click on (Fairus) Federation of American Immigration Reform http://www.fairus.org/. Check out their index of 36000 criminal illegal aliens that have been released into our society, which is just a small portion, without a word to the unsuspecting public. Consider clicking on “The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration” http://www.usillegalaliens.com there is many other listings on this website that will inform you of the menace of illegal immigration.