The House passes laws cracking down on illegal immigrants and sanctuary cities.
By Alexis Alex
Kate Steinle. Photo via The National Review.
House Republicans have claimed to replenish “rule of law” by passing laws increasing prison sentences for illegal immigrants and attacking sanctuary cities for relaxed enforcement.
Kate’s Law is named after Kate Steinle, the young woman who was murdered on a busy walkway in San Francisco by an undocumented immigrant who had been previously deported multiple times. Kate’s Law increases maximum penalties for undocumented immigrants who enter the US illegally after deportation, even harsher for ones with criminal records.
The No Sanctuary for Criminals Act increases cities requirements for illegal immigrant enforcement. This directly addresses sanctuary cities like New York City, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and others who limit their cooperation with federal immigration laws. This bill allows the government to deny federal funds to these sanctuary cities if they don’t comply with the requirements. With this law, Republicans are clearly sending the message that they will not financially support these cities if they do not crackdown on immigration enforcement.
By passing these laws, Republicans are being very straightforward about the message they are sending to immigrants and sanctuary cities. On the surface, these laws are meant to rid the country of illegal immigrants and criminals. But, this could be a slippery slope because increasing immigration enforcement could mean harassing communities of color in search for illegals. Over policing is already an issue for minority communities and now cities that may have been relaxed in the past about immigration enforcement are being forced to increase their presence. This puts the immigrant community more at risk than ever before. Is this a good or bad thing? Let us know what you think!
