Gregory D.

Lee

Read Greg's bio and previous columns here

July 14, 2008

Cut Off Federal Funds to ‘Sanctuary Cities’ Like San Francisco

Just about the time you thought extreme liberals couldn’t get any more screwy or out of touch with reality than they already are, along comes another example that tops the last one you heard.

It turns out that up until last month, San Francisco’s Juvenile Probation Department had been transporting illegal alien juvenile drug dealers to their home countries to avoid their being arrested and deported by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. Once that practice stopped, the city then began to transport these felons south to a group home in San Bernardino County, California, much to the surprise of local authorities there. The last batch of illegals San Francisco sent consisted of eight Honduran juvenile drug dealers who ended up escaping from custody and are now probably on their way to another sanctuary city, like New Haven, Connecticut, that will also protect them from federal prosecution and deportation.

It seems the good folks of San Francisco didn’t want their crack cocaine suppliers prosecuted, let alone deported, so they moved them around the state so ICE could not arrest and deport them to their native countries. The San Francisco Juvenile Probation Department cited the city’s “sanctuary city ordinance” as its excuse for obstructing justice and harboring federal fugitives. The 1989 city ordinance titled, “City of Refuge,” prohibits city employees from informing ICE agents of illegal immigrants. I suppose the “diversity” of the city would radically change if all its illegals were suddenly deported.  

All of this comes on the heels of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s announcement that he is exploring a run for governor. Now, through a spokesman, the wannabe governor wants everyone to know that San Francisco’s sanctuary ordinance “provides no protection for those who are felony suspects,” and “The mayor refuses to allow San Francisco to be a sanctuary for drug dealers.”

Oh? He could have fooled me. The last time I checked, sale of crack cocaine was a felony, even in San Francisco. The mayor obviously does knowingly allow the city to be a sanctuary for drug dealers. Why else would the city’s Juvenile Probation Department hide these fugitives from the feds unless it wanted to provide a sanctuary security blanket that extended hundreds of miles beyond the city limits all the way to San Bernardino County?

Until recently, the Juvenile Probation Department used city funds to transport the young felons to their native countries to avoid any contact whatsoever with ICE. The sanctuary San Francisco provided these illegal aliens is nothing less than the harboring of fugitives and the facilitation of other federal crimes.

As further evidence, Mayor Newsom recently criticized the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for its tactics to “undermine” the use of marijuana by patients authorized under state law to use the illegal drug for medicinal purposes. He has asked the mother of San Francisco values, Nancy Pelosi, to conduct congressional hearings on the matter. The mayor sounds like a real advocate for a drug-free city. First he attacks the DEA and then hides drug dealers from deportation.

All of this illustrates why sanctuary cities like San Francisco need to be punished for what they have done, and other cities need to be discouraged from providing sanctuary to illegal aliens.

Congress needs to cut off not some, but all federal funding to San Francisco and other cities that have declared themselves sanctuary cities. This funding includes supplements for education, roadways, transportation projects, etc. The cut-off of these funds will suddenly make these cities believers that there is no benefit to be gained from undermining the federal effort to root out illegal aliens who are here to take jobs from Americans, or sell drugs, such as in San Francisco’s case.

Congress also needs to deputize state and local police officers so they can enforce federal immigration law, or at least question persons about their immigration status so they can be turned over to ICE for processing.

Most of all, the country needs sanctuary from cities like San Francisco, Santa Ana, California, New York City, New Haven, Connecticut and others that, for political posturing, throw roadblocks in front of the federal government’s efforts to enforce immigration law. So long as these cities direct their police departments and employees not to cooperate with ICE, they will continue to be safe havens for illegal aliens who are here to exploit this country’s generosity and limited resources.

Gregory D. Lee is a nationally syndicated columnist and criminal justice consultant. He can be reached through his website: www.gregorydlee.com.

© 2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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