NTF Issue paper: Illegal132 doc. 7-15.
NEBRASKA TAXPAYERS FOR FREEDOM ISSUE PAPER:
STOP FUNDING SANCTUARY CITIES FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS.
BACKGROUND. Conservative Rep. Trey Gowdy (S.C.) has introduced HR 1148, in honor of deputy sheriffs Michael Davis and Danny Oliver, law officers gunned down by an illegal alien in Sacramento, CA. in 2014. Authorities had deported the killer twice, and he assumed 2 different identities before embarking on his killing spree that killed the officers. Our federal immigration laws enforced, both of these slain heroes would enjoy life with their Cong. Trey Gowdy (S.C.) families today. Gowdy is outraged over the Obama Regime unconstitutional executive actions that granted amnesty to millions of illegal aliens, many of them criminals. His bill has won heightened attention since the murder of a young woman in San Francisco by another illegal alien criminal deported 5 times for committing 7 felonies. She died in the arms of her father. The murderer admitted to police that he chose San Francisco as his home, because he knew that city officials would not help deport him. He has pled not guilty to 1st degree murder. San Francisco is a sanctuary city that refuses to hand over illegals to federal law officers upon request.
HOMELAND SECURITY. Under HR 1148, the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) must provide the National Crime Information Center of the Justice Dept. with all information it has on illegals who have received a final order of deportation, signed a voluntary departure agreement, overstayed a visa period, or whose visa faced revocation. The feds must take custody upon state or local request and compensate states and localities for jail and transportation costs. Illegals subject to deportation ICE must detain in a state or local prison, detention center, or similar facility. DHS must build or buy additional detention facilities for illegals pending their removal. This dept. must continue to identify deportable criminal illegals in state and federal prisons, ensure that they do not win release into the community, and deport them after sentence completion.
STATE/LOCAL AUTHORITY. States and localities could enact and enforce immigration criminal penalties that do not exceed federal criminal penalties and are consistent with federal law. They can receive DHS grants to help enforce immigration laws and receive DHS training for state and local law officers, who can investigate, arrest, and transfer to federal custody illegals for immigration enforcement. Such officers will have personal liability immunity while enforcing immigration laws. States can have access to federal programs and technology to identify inadmissible or deportable illegals and, with localities, must provide DHS with identifying information about each arrested illegal believed inadmissible or deportable. The bill would overturn the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that nullified an Arizona law that authorized state and local law officers to carry out federal immigration laws and charged those sheltering, hiring, or transporting illegal aliens.
SANCTUARY CITIES. There are approximately 60 sanctuary cities in the U.S., all unlikely to change their policies. These policies purposely convince illegal aliens that they can roam these cities freely without fear of detention by federal authorities. Obama policies have allowed sanctuary cities to flourish and emboldened them with their lack of enforce- ment. His DHS has implemented policies that authorize sanctuary cities. Sanctuary jurisdictions refuse to comply with what U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials call “detainers,” the tool its agents use to pick up criminal aliens in local jails. In testimony earlier this year, ICE Director Sarah Saldaña said more than 200 jurisdictions do not honor such detainers. Defenders of sanctuary cities say they are essential to help immigrants feel comfortable reporting crime and more fully integrate into a community. Actually, sanctuary cities encourage unlawful immigration and crime.
STIFFER PENALTIES. The feds could withhold specific law enforcement grants from local jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with federal ICE agents attempting to deport illegals. Cities must notify ICE of illegal aliens detained by law officers and comply with federal law enforcement information requests and detainers. Required detention for anyone found illegal and a member of a street gang and barring residence for anyone found here illegally and a gang member from requesting asylum, deportation delay, and temporary protected status. There are over 200,000 state and local law officers who can strengthen interior enforcement. The bill assists ICE officers in carrying out their jobs of enforcing federal immigration laws by strengthening their ability to make arrests for immigration violations in our cities and other localities. Illegally immigrating would become a criminal instead of a civil offense. For the first violation, an immigrant could face a fine or imprisonment for up to 6 months; for later violations, a 5 yr. sentence. The bill also would allow all ICE deportation officers and agents to carry firearms. HR 1148 would expand the Visa Security Program to additional high risk posts, strengthen the integrity of the student visa program, and authorize DHS and the Department of State to revoke visas of foreign nationals if in the security interests of the U.S.
COUNTERS PRESIDENT. This bill defunds the Obama unilateral, unconstitutional executive actions on immigration by barring appropriated funds and fees to sanctuary destinations. He no longer could unilaterally stop enforcement of federal immigration law with his executive orders. It would halt the expansion of the deferred deportation program for minors and its accompanying program for their illegal immigrant parents. This bill removes the ability of the President to unilaterally stop enforcement efforts by granting states and localities specific congressional authorization to assist in the enforcement of federal immigration law and includes provisions to facilitate their assistance. It removes the ability of this and future Presidents to unilaterally stifle enforcement.
LIBERAL OPPOSITION. Liberal groups decry this bill as racial profiling, leading to unconstitutional arrest of citizens and immigrants. Militant Hispanic groups like La Raza falsely claim that ICE will persecute legal immigrant families.
TAKE ACTION NOW. Conservatives must act now within our constitutional process to stop the Obama executive orders and increase the deportation of illegal aliens by defunding sanctuary cities. NE Cong. Adrian Smith and Jeff Fortenberry both support this legislation; Cong. Brad Ashford opposes it. Contact your representative today to vote to pass HR 1148.
====================================================================================
BACKGROUND. In 2010, the Obama Regime openly declared that it would not take legal action against sanctuary jurisdictions for refusing to cooperate with the enforcement of our immigration laws, though Obama was aware of the dangers posed by this policy. His Justice Dept. instead used time and resources to sue states like Arizona for detaining illegals and litigate these cases up to the U.S. Supreme Court. These crippling actions caused release of thousands of criminal illegal immigrants, many becoming repeat offenders.
SENATE BILL. S. 1640, sponsored by conservative Sen. Jeff Sessions (Ala.) and co-sponsored by Sens. Ted Cruz (TX) and Tom Cotton (Ark.), would require state and local jurisdictions to notify the federal government when a criminal alien is in their custody and withhold DHS and Justice Dept. funds from jurisdictions that refuse to notify and cooperate with ICE, release aliens, and do not honor federal immigration detainers. Local jurisdictions that honor fed detainers would enjoy legal immunity from prosecution from frivolous lawsuits. One program would reimburse and provide federal assistance to states and local jurisdictions that incur costs for incarcerating illegal criminal aliens held as a result of local convictions. The Dept. of Justice administers this program. City officials who insist on defying federal immigration laws by harboring illegal immigrant criminals would face a criminal charge. His bill makes a federal crime for a local official to harbor an illegal alien felon. The bill would end the mass release of criminal aliens and allow Sen. Jeff Sessions local law enforcement to assist in the enforcement of federal laws. Congress should start with the D.C. local government. Said Sessions, ” There is never a reason to allow a dangerous criminal alien to enter, live, or remain in the United States. No parent should ever have to bury a child because we failed to keep violent criminals out of the country or failed to deport them once they were in the country. Protecting the lives of innocent Americans is one of the most basic duties of the federal government. Our goal should be to keep 100% of dangerous aliens out of the United States.” S. 1640 imposes a possible fine and 5-yr. mandatory minimum prison sentence on deported illegals who attempt to re-enter the U.S. or found residing here. The bill would overturn the Zadvydas v. Davis Supreme Court case that Obama is using as an excuse to release criminal aliens after 6 months of detention. It also would clamp down on loopholes that allow legal immigrants who commit crimes to continue on the path to citizenship instead of facing deportation.
SANCTUARY FOR CRIMINALS. The city recently had dropped additional drug charges against the murderer of Karen Steinle in San Francisco. Sanctuary cities like SF routinely ignore federal requests to detain illegal aliens or inform the feds of their release from custody. SF refuses to notify ICE that is has detained illegal aliens, so that ICE can retrieve them for deportation. ICE was still seeking this illegal alien and had placed a detention order on him. The city board of supervisors passed a law in 2013 restricting placement of immigrants in federal immigration detainers and holds, which other sanctuary cities have imitated. Sanctuary cities refuse to ask those arrested their immigration status. Between 2010 and 2014, criminal illegal aliens with active deportation cases because of prior criminal convictions when released by sanctuary cities committed 121 homicides and 424 rapes. Releasing criminal aliens from our jails and prisons only allows them more opportunity to rob, maim, and murder more innocent Americans. Yet, liberal mayors and Kate Steinle governors bow to the illegal alien lobby and allow thousands of dangerous aliens to run free. In the last 2 years, the Obama Regime has released 76,000 criminal aliens with convictions back into our communities. There are 169,000 convicted criminal aliens at large in the U.S. now though formally and lawfully ordered deported. The regime instead has taken legal action against state and local jurisdictions that have simply attempted to help the federal government enforce immigration laws and sued to block their efforts to enforce the law or help the federal government enforce the law. The regime tolerance of sanctuary cities also has resulted in another 10,000 potentially deportable arrested aliens released by local police agencies since January, 2014. The disregard of detainers and release of criminal aliens on which ICE has placed a hold contravenes traditions of law enforcement. Other jurisdictions seeking fugitive aliens must look for these criminals again and spend thousands in tax dollars while the fugitives murder others in the meantime. ICE has lost track of hundreds of thousands of fugitive criminals in the U.S. illegally. Rather than working with state and local law enforcement to identify, detain, and deport dangerous criminal aliens, DHS officials have enabled sanctuary cities, dismantled effective cooperative enforcement programs, and allowed repeat criminal offenders released onto American streets by the tens of thousands. Obama executive actions to prevent deportation of millions of illegal immigrants dismantled a program that identified criminal aliens and replaced it with his priority enforcement program allowing many criminal aliens to remain in America. By ending local ICE detainers in most situations, the administration removed ability to pick up and process deportable aliens when law enforcement encounters them. U.S. taxpayers must not support misguided local sanctuary policies that put their safety in jeopardy. Every one of these deaths, and thousands more like them, are completely preventable. S. 1640 will safeguard against further tragedies by ensuring that sanctuary jurisdictions no longer can release criminal aliens into the public. See the following video on sanctuary cities: http://video.foxnews.com/v/4374343519001/should-sanctuary-cities-lose-their-federal-funding/?#sp=show-clips.
SUPPORTERS. S. 1640 has won endorsements from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, Numbers USA, Eagle Forum, the National Assoc. of Former Border Patrol Officers, the National Sheriff’s Assoc., and Heritage Action.
THE GRASSLEY BILL. Sen. Chuck Grassley (IA.) has introduced another Senate bill to require the executive branch to publish a list of sanctuary jurisdictions on its website and list how many detainers issued and how many not honored by these jurisdictions. The bill defines criminal illegals as those arrested or convicted of an aggravated felony, are inadmissible or removable for criminal activity, or arrested, charged, or convicted of drunk driving.
TAKE ACTION NOW. Too many people in our neighborhoods live in fear of illegal alien criminals and their violent gangs and drug cartels. We must deport potentially violent illegal alien offenders, before they hurt innocent families. This bill will make NE communities safer. The Obama Regime prefers amnesty for prospective Democrat voters to public safety. The President said he will immediately veto S. 1640, if it reaches his desk, so urge our 2 Nebraska senators to vote YES on S. 1640 and vote to override the presidential veto. Defunding sanctuary cities is difficult, needing 60 Senate votes, and the process must defund each agency involved. Also, fees fund several sanctuary city activities independently. This bill would accomplish everything necessary.
Research, analysis, and documentation for this issue paper done by Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom. This material copyrighted by Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom, with prior permission granted for its use by other groups in the NE Conservative Coalition Network. 7-15. C