House Passes SoCal Congressman's Legislation to De-Fund 'Sanctuary Cities'

Photo via Duncan Hunter’s office

By City News Service

An inland congressman’ bill seeking to strip federal funding from so-called “sanctuary cities” -- which maintain policies shielding undocumented immigrants with criminal backgrounds from deportation -- was approved Thursday by the U.S. House of Representatives.

“This legislation is about one thing -- accountability,” said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Temecula. “When the arrest of an illegal immigrant is made, the federal government should be notified. The fact that some cities disagree with federal enforcement (of immigration law) does not give them a free pass to subvert the law.

“This legislation will be hitting them where it hurts -- in their pocketbook,” Hunter said. “It’s simple -- if you don’t comply with the law, then you don’t receive coveted federal money intended for law enforcement.”

Hunter introduced HR 3009, the “Enforce the Law for Sanctuary Cities Act,” immediately after the July 1 slaying of 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle in San Francisco. Steinle was on a boardwalk with her father when she was shot, allegedly by convicted felon Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, a Mexican national who had been deported five times.

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Lopez-Sanchez has been charged with murder for the apparently random attack. According to authorities, he had been arrested in San Francisco just prior to the shooting but, because of the municipality’s sanctuary policy, was not held by police to be turned over to Immigration & Customs Enforcement officials upon his release from jail.

The House approved Duncan’s proposal in a 241-179 vote. Among supporters was Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona, who blasted sanctuary cities for making “our immigration problems worse.”

“It is time to protect the innocent,” Calvert said. “It is time to penalize cities that willfully ignore federal law to the detriment of citizens and legal residents ... We have a choice: protect fellow Americans, or give sanctuary to criminal aliens.”

Under Hunter’s proposal, the federal Immigration and Nationality Act would be amended to freeze allocations to cities or states with “any law, policy or procedure” that undermines provisions of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.

The bill defines a sanctuary policy as anything that “prohibits state or local law enforcement officials from gathering information regarding the citizenship or immigration status ... of any individual.”

San Francisco, Los Angeles and dozens of other cities throughout California and the nation have specific policies against inquiring whether a suspect meets the federal definition of “illegal alien,” according to Hunter.

“People around the country don’t want their money going to states and cities that don’t care to follow federal law,” the congressman said. “This bill is a first step toward restoring accountability in our immigration system.”

If enacted, HR 3009 would withhold reimbursements under the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, which mitigates the costs of incarcerating undocumented offenders. The proposal would also put the brakes on Byrne Justice Assistance Grant funding, as well as money doled out under the Clinton-era Community-Oriented Policing Services Program, better known as COPS.

The 2015 allotments made available for SCAAP, Byrne and COPS total nearly $800 million, according to Hunter’s office.

Earlier this year, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., submitted HR 1148, the Davis-Oliver bill, which would permit states, cities and counties to enact their own immigration enforcement measures, as long as they replicate what’s already in place at the federal level. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., has put forward an identical bill in the Senate, S 1640. Gowdy’s bill is before the House Committee on Homeland Security; Sessions’ bill is in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Their legislation was inspired by the October 2014 slayings of two Northern California law enforcement officers, Michael Davis and Danny Oliver, allegedly gunned down by Mexican national Luis Enrique Bracamonte, a convicted felon.