House approves cutting cash for ‘ sanctuary’ cities
WASHINGTON — The House voted Thursday to punish local jurisdictions — so- called sanctuary cities — that defy federal immigration authorities to protect illegal aliens.
The measure was backed by Republican leaders and passed on a 241- 179 vote largely along party lines. The four representatives from Arkansas, all Republicans, voted in favor of the bill.
After the vote, angry Democrats accused Republicans of aligning themselves with presidential hopeful Donald Trump and his an-
ti- immigration views, and the White House threatened a veto.
“The Donald Trump wing of the Republican Party is clearly ascendant here today,” Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D- Texas, said in heated floor debate ahead of the vote. “This bill is not about grabbing criminals; it’s about grabbing headlines.”
Republicans countered that action was desperately needed after the July 1 death of Kathryn Steinle, who police said was shot by a man who was in the country illegally despite a long criminal record and multiple deportations.
The man, Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez, had been released by San Francisco authorities despite a request from federal immigration authorities to keep him detained.
“There are criminals motivated by malice and a conscious disregard for the lives of others, and there are cities more interested in providing a sanctuary for those criminals than they are in providing a sanctuary for their law- abiding citizens,” said Rep. Trey Gowdy, R- S. C. “This is more than an academic discussion. … It is quite literally life and death.”
San Francisco and hundreds of other jurisdictions nationally have adopted policies of disregarding federal immigration detention requests, or “detainers.” Such requests have been found invalid in court, and advocates say they can unfairly target innocent people.
The House bill, by Rep. Duncan Hunter, R- Calif., would punish jurisdictions that prohibit the collection of immigration information or don’t cooperate with federal requests. They would be blocked from receiving certain law enforcement grants and funding.
“The American people have the right to not give their tax dollars to municipalities and states that do not follow federal law,” Hunter said. “The fact that San Francisco and LA and other cities disagree with the politics of federal enforcement does not give them a free pass to subvert the law.”
In its veto threat, the White House said the bill would threaten the civil rights of all Americans by allowing law enforcement officials to gather immigration status information from any person at any time.
The White House statement said such an approach would lead to mistrust between communities and law enforcement agencies. Law enforcement organizations, civil- rights groups and the U. S. Conference of Mayors have pushed back on efforts to crack down on sanctuary cities for the same reason.
It is unclear how many jurisdictions could be affected by the House bill. One group that advocates tighter immigration policies, the Center for Immigration Studies, has identified 276 states, counties and municipalities with various “sanctuary”- type laws. Another group that opposes stronger enforcement, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, has identified more than 360 jurisdictions.
As debate unfolded on the House floor, Gowdy led a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing that included testimony from Steinle’s father, Jim Steinle, who was with his daughter when she was shot and killed.
As he did earlier this week in an appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Steinle recounted his daughter’s shooting as they strolled arm in arm and her final words asking him for help.
“Due to disjointed law and basic incompetence on many levels, the U. S. has suffered a self- inflicted wound by the hand of a person who never should have been on the streets of this country,” Jim Steinle said.
He told lawmakers that “hopefully some good will come from Kate’s death,” if laws could be changed to keep criminal aliens off the street.
Members of both parties endorsed Steinle’s plea but offered different diagnoses of the problem, with Republicans calling for more enforcement of the law and Democrats calling for a comprehensive immigration overhaul, something House Republicans have blocked for years.
The comments echoed the years- long national debate over immigration, but this latest chapter comes at a moment when immigration has become a hot- button issue on the presidential campaign trail after Trump’s statements about Mexican aliens being “rapists” and “criminals.”
One Democratic leader, Rep. Xavier Becerra, D- Calif., referred to the legislation as the “Donald Trump Act.”
But House Republicans rejected Democratic attempts to connect their legislation with Trump’s campaign.
“We have a horrible tragedy that was preventable,” said Speaker John Boehner, R- Ohio, when asked about the linkage. “Cities do not have the right to ignore federal laws that require them to incarcerate people who have committed serious felonies.”
All but five House Republicans backed the bill. One who didn’t, Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R- Fla., a supporter of a comprehensive overhaul, said the legislation wouldn’t have prevented Kathryn Steinle’s death.
“This is an exercise, this is not a solution,” Curbelo said. “This may generate a headline, but it’s not going to solve a problem.”
Other House Republicans viewed Thursday’s vote as just the first step in advancing a slate of enforcement-focused immigration bills centered on beefing up border security and cracking down on aliens with criminal records.
Such an approach would ignore the advice of some Republican Party leaders, who’ve urged the party to reach out to Hispanic voters by embracing comprehensive overhaul legislation including a path to citizenship for the 11.5 million illegal aliens in the U. S.
That approach has been rejected by many Republicans as “amnesty” for people who come to the U. S. illegally.
“The appetite for amnesty has diminished dramatically after we see the carnage in the streets of America at the hands of criminal aliens that should have been removed from the country,” Rep. Steve King, R- Iowa, said Thursday. “And so that means that now the climate is much better to try to move down the line on enforcement.”
Senate action on sanctuary cities is less certain. Sen. Charles Grassley, R- Iowa, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has introduced “Kate’s Law” in honor of Steinle and has announced intentions to move it through his committee.
That bill would make a wider variety of grants unavailable to sanctuary cities than the House bill and would increase penalties for individuals who re- enter the country after being deported.
Some Senate Democrats, including San Francisco native Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D- Calif., have said less- sweeping legislative action may be necessary.
But it is unclear when any measure might make it to the Senate floor, which is expected to be tied up with transportation legislation until the congressional summer recess begins in August.
“On the timing of that, I couldn’t tell you right now,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R- Ky., said Tuesday.
Information for this article was contributed by Erica Werner of The Associated Press and by Mike DeBonis of The Washington
Post.