sanctuary cities

Voters like the idea of making legal immigrants pay their own way, and they are also keen on letting people sue sanctuary cities for crimes committed by illegal immigrants — both parts of President Trump’s immigration agenda — according to surprising polling numbers from Harvard University.

Nearly four in five voters like the idea of an “immigration halt” with the coronavirus becoming a pandemic.

Less popular is the move by a number of Democrat-led states such as New York to issue driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. Only about one-third of voters polled said people in the country without authorization should be allowed to apply for a license.

The head of ICE slammed Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot over her continued support for the city’s sanctuary policy, which he has said allowed an illegal alien to sexually assault a toddler. During an interview this week, Director Matthew Albence called out Lightfoot for demonizing ICE officials and refusing to cooperate with its procedures.

The Democrat mayor recently blamed the agency for politicizing the sexual assault of a 3-year-old girl by convicted felon Christopher Puente just last month. Puente was arrested for theft in June of 2019, but instead of being turned over to ICE officials, he was released due to Chicago’s sanctuary city policy.

Albence called  Lightfoot's remarks the height of hypocrisy. He has constantly condemned sanctuary cities for hurting Americans that he and the agency are trying to protect.

“As a law enforcement officer, we work every day to ensure the safety of those in the communities we serve,” he said. “There’s no worse feeling than when those innocent citizens you’ve sworn to protect are needlessly harmed.”

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has signed into law an immigration enforcement bill that bans so-called sanctuary cities.

The Republican governor signed the bill privately Tuesday. The news was tucked into a press release about 16 other bill signings.

The legislation will require law enforcement to follow requests from federal agents to hold a jailed person suspected of being in the country illegally. Local governments risk losing state funding if they don't comply with the law.

Attorneys say the provision could open the state to litigation. Community organizers argue the bill will lead to racial profiling.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa is set to become the latest Republican-led state to target so-called sanctuary cities by withholding money from local governments that don’t comply with federal immigration laws, even though the plan could lead to court challenges.

A bill outlining an expansive immigration enforcement plan is expected to receive final legislative approval this week. It comes as President Donald Trump ramps up calls for more stringent immigration enforcement.

Nearly 400 sheriffs across the country are calling on the Republican-controlled Congress to follow through on President Trump’s popular immigration agenda by securing the nation’s porous borders and criminalizing sanctuary cities.

Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson of Bristol County, Massachusetts, has gathered with about 380 sheriffs from across America, representing 40 states, to ask Congress to push Trump’s agenda that would help decrease and end illegal immigration to the United States.

“Enough is enough,” the sheriffs write. 

The sheriffs faulted Congress for failing to enact reforms that would drastically reduce illegal immigration to the U.S., writing that their lack of effort to end illegal immigration has “undermined our ability to keep our communities safe.”

Illegal immigration, resulting in 12 to 30 million illegal aliens now living in the U.S., has come at not only the expense of American citizens, but also local law enforcement agencies that do not have the resources or manpower to take on the issue.