By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Thursday, July 9, 2015, US Senator Richard Shelby (R-Alabama) sent an open letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch to End Funding for “Sanctuary Cities” Circumventing Immigration Removal Policies.
Kathryn Steinle was a typical American young woman with prospects of a good future ahead of her who was taking a stroll down San Francisco’s popular Pier 14 area with her father. That future tragically was cut short when a maniac gunned her down in the street with a weapon he stole from a law enforcement officer’s vehicle. Poor Kathryn was murdered allegedly by a criminal illegal alien who has five times been deported from this country for his felonious conduct. The death was made more tragic because the villain (who has reportedly admitted the crime to authorities) should not have even been there. US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers had asked the San Francisco authorities to hold the professional criminal for them. They did not do that because liberal San Francisco is a “sanctuary city” who thwarts federal immigration authority. They do not assist Homeland Security do homeland security in their city. Sen. Shelby is suggesting that cities like San Francisco who won’t cooperate or assist ICE and other federal agencies do their job should not get federal grants or other federal assistance.
Senator Shelby said, “Any violent crime is tragic, but the fact that the senseless death in San Francisco arose directly from a ‘sanctuary city’ deliberately obstructing policies to remove illegal immigrants who have committed crimes is appalling and inexcusable. I strongly believe that interfering with the routine coordination of federal law enforcement is intolerable and potentially deadly to law-abiding American families.”
In his letter, Sen. Shelby requested that the Department of Justice end taxpayer-funded federal grants to jurisdictions that do not follow federal immigration removal policies. This would effectively eliminate grant funding for “sanctuary cities” where the local law enforcement intentionally fails to inform federal authorities about illegal immigrants who they choose to release even after these individuals have committed crimes.
Sen. Shelby said, “Municipalities that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration laws simply should not receive the Department of Justice’s assistance funding. The freedoms we enjoy – like strolling on a San Francisco pier with our children – are possible only when we are willing to enforce the federal laws that keep our families and our freedoms safe.”
Sen. Shelby said that while he disagrees with President Obama’s policies on immigration, he fully supports the President’s efforts to find and remove criminal illegal aliens. Shelby called the San Francisco Police Department’s policy deliberately crafted to circumvent federal removal efforts. Shelby called the policy “intolerable.”
The Steinle case has been seized on by Republican Presidential candidate and businessman from New Jersey Donald Trump as evidence for his case that Latino gangs and other elements have brought across the American southern border. Trump said, “The US has become a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems. When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people. It’s coming from more than Mexico. It’s coming from all over South and Latin America, and it’s coming probably from the Middle East.” Trump vowed, “I will make this country great again. Politicians aren’t going to do it, I can say with surety.”
The outspoken remarks have cost Trump millions of dollars in business as business partners have cut ties with the Trump companies for fear of upsetting Hispanic customers; but it appears to be winning with Republican Primary voters. A recent poll has Trump leading the heavily crowded GOP field.
US Senator Richard Shelby is the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS).
(Original reporting by Fox News, CNN, and World Net Daily’s Cheryl Chumley contributed to this report.)
