On Monday, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions pushed to end sanctuary cities in the United States, saying that such dangerous policies enforced by these cities and states “cannot continue.”
“When cities and states continue to refuse to help enforce our immigration laws, our nation is less safe,” Sessions said.
“Countless Americans would be alive today … if these policies of sanctuary cities were ended,” he added.
Sessions said that putting dangerous criminals back on the streets could not continue.
“Such policies cannot continue,” he said. “They make our nation less safe by putting dangerous criminals back on the streets.”
The U.S. Attorney General went on to say that some states and cities adopted policies that are “designed to frustrate” those enforcing the laws.
“Unfortunately, some states and cities have adopted policies designed to frustrate this enforcement of immigration laws,” Sessions continued.
“This includes refusing to detain known felons on federal detainer request or otherwise failing to comply with these laws,” he continued. “For example, the Department of Homeland Security recently issued a report showing that in a single week, there were more than 200 instances of jurisdictions refusing to honor I.C.E. detainer requests with respect to individuals charged or convicted of a serious crime. The charges and convictions against these aliens include drug trafficking, hit-and-run, rape, sex offenses against a child and even murder.”
Sessions referenced the case of Kate Steinle, a woman who was murdered in July of 2015 in San Francisco by an illegal immigrant who had been previously deported.
Sessions also stated that the Department of Justice would cut federal funding for those who did not comply with the immigration policies of the nation. The Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs is set to award $4.1 billion in grants during the current fiscal year.
“We intend to use all the lawful authorities we have to make sure our state and local officials … are in sync with the federal government,” Sessions said.
“Moreover, the Department of Justice will require that jurisdictions seeking or applying for Department of Justice grants to certify compliance with [relevant laws] as a condition of receiving those awards,” he added.
“I strongly urge our nation’s states and cities and counties to consider carefully the harm they are doing to their citizens by refusing to enforce our immigration laws and to rethink these policies. Such policies make their cities and states less safe, public safety as well as national security are at stake, and put them at risk of losing federal dollars,” Sessions said.
You can watch U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions speak during the White House Daily Briefing below:
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