Sanctuary Cities and Federal Funding

Name: Institutional Affiliation Course: Date: Sanctuary Cities and Federal Funding Introduction On July 1, 2015, a woman aged 31 was shot dead by Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, an illegal immigrant, in San Francisco (Ho n.p). Kate Steinle, the man’s victim was having an evening walk with her father when a bullet hit her from the back penetrating through her heart. Lopez-Sanchez is a Mexican citizen who has been deported several times and convicted of multiple serious crimes (Philip n.p). In March the same year, the man was released from custody to face fresh drug charges but were dropped leading to his release on April 15 (Philip n.p). The incident of Steinle’s shooting caused a new wave of concern regarding immigration policies and the municipal jurisdictions commonly referred to as “sanctuary cities” in parts of Europe and North America. Sanctuary cities such as San Francisco have policies limiting cooperation with the national government to impose immigration laws on illegal immigrants. Proponents of sanctuary cities aim to protect individuals illegally in the country from deportation and family disintegration. While studies investigating the link between crime and sanctuary policies have found no correlation between such policies and increased crime rates (Collingwood, Gonzalez-O’Brien and El-Khatib n.p), President Donald Trump has maintained a hard stand against illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, terming them as rapists and murderers (Ross n.p). This paper presents a case that funding sanctuary cities should be abolished because they provide a safe haven for criminals, defy federal policies binding local and state governments and prevent both local and state police officers from executing their mandates. While the definition of sanctuary cities varies across states, sanctuary policies in general do set limits on the extent to which the local law enforcement authorities can conform to the state immigration laws. In 1989, San Francisco passed a decree to proscribe funds or city employees from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in enforcing state immigration laws unless it was a requirement by the federal or state law. There was also a law passed to limit when police officers can offer ICE notice that undocumented immigrants have been released from jail and prevent the officers from cooperating with ICE detainers (Schallhorn, n.p). Berkeley, a city near San Francisco is the oldest sanctuary city that in 1971 passed a resolution to guard any sailor resisting the Vietnam War. Five other states, namely; California, Connecticut, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont have already laws limiting how much the local law enforcement officers can assist the federal immigration officers. In 2018, Jerry Brown, the California governor signed the law that prevents the police from asking individuals regarding their immigration status or taking part in federal immigration enforcement activities (Schallhorn np). In January 2017, President Trump signed an executive order promising to strip all federal grants from the states that harboured undocumented immigrants (Schallhorn n.p). However, in November 2017, a federal judge blocked the executive order claiming that the Trump administration lacked the power to introduce new conditions to block spending that have passed the Congress approval (Schallhorn, n.p). As the debate over the abolishment of sanctuary city policies continues in the modern day, the fact remains that such policies defy the federal laws, creating a safe haven for deplorable criminals since they know they are protected from deportation. Although immigration activities are the responsibilities within the realm of the federal government, sanctuary cities have been allowed to defy the law through the past presidents and attorneys who have ignored their mandate to enforce the law and protect the Americans (Clarke n.p). Immigration reforms are having a great overhaul with the current administration, but while this will take great efforts Americans should seek to enforce the relevant immigration laws that are contained in the constitution to make a safer home for all citizens. The U.S Constitution provides that any individual who recklessly or knowingly shields, harbours or conceals any persons entering or lives in the country in violation of the law should be fined and imprisoned for a term not less than 5 years (Legal Inf...