Tancredo Amendment to Deny Homeland Security Funds to “Sanctuary Cities” Passes — But What Does That Mean?
I’d be excited about the news — if I understood what a “sanctuary city” is. For example: Tancredo slaps Denver with that label, but Denver denies it. I haven’t seen the language of the proposed amendment yet and can’t find it on the Treo — so I’m playing the lazy blogger’s trick and outsourcing the work to you.
Treo? Why in the name of the Lord?
Christoph (bad4f9) — 6/15/2007 @ 6:12 pmWell, here is the bill: HR 2638
I perused the bill, and unless I missed it, the only thing I could find that relates to withholding of federal funds is a small passage about cities who do not comply with the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. I found nothing defining what a ‘Sanctuary City’ is. So it comes down to the Federal government saying, “You’re a sanctuary city”, and the mayors saying, “No we aren’t.” Unless they can prove an actual violation of the Act, nothing can be done. I found this part interesting though:
That at least once per month the Secretary of Homeland Security or a designee of the Secretary shall obtain information from every prison, jail, and correctional facility in the United States to identify incarcerated aliens who may be deportable and make every reasonable effort to remove such aliens judged deportable upon their release from custody.
I read that as of 2006, 33% of our prison and jail population was comprised of illegals. They’re going to need a shit load of buses…
fngJD (49df46) — 6/15/2007 @ 7:06 pmfngJD, according to this article, which cites the Department of Justice, 6% of prisoners are non-citizens, which includes both legal and illegal immigrants.
Nels Nelson (680124) — 6/15/2007 @ 7:28 pmThey’re going to need a shit load of buses.
We would need a pretty damn low repeat offender rate (like almost 0%) to not have such a program pay for itself.
jpm100 (a99bf7) — 6/15/2007 @ 7:47 pmNels,
That 6% number is an average. Thus, noncitizen inmates comprise:
19% of all inmates in the federal system;
10.1% of all inmates in California prisons & jails;
6% of all Texas inmates;
11.8% of all New York inmates;
5.6% of all Florida inmates;
12.7% of all Arizona inmates; and
12.6% of all Nevada inmates.
Further, I don’t know if every State investigates and keeps accurate records of each inmate’s legal status.
DRJ (2d5e62) — 6/15/2007 @ 7:47 pmWhat does it mean? I don’t have a clue, but it sounds like a fight to the death in DC. And that’s a good thing.
Patricia (824fa1) — 6/15/2007 @ 9:04 pmGood question. I’ve heard city councils publicly announce they are a “sanctuary city.” I think it means, whether they announce it or not, that the city has a policy of never inquiring about legal immigration status before offering benefits to a person. This would include subsidized housing, emergency grants, nonemergency healthcare, school programs, etc.
sam (e95c5f) — 6/16/2007 @ 4:46 amAs I noted here, the bill excludes so-called sanctuary cities, but does not define a sanctuary city. The mayor of Denver has said that his city is not so labelled, but that doesn’t mean that city policies are not coincident with a sanctuary city mentality.
The Tancredo amendment was passed because it was a free vote: it doesn’t actually do anything.
Dana (3e4784) — 6/16/2007 @ 5:21 am#7 sam
…and not requiring the police force to inquire about a suspects country of origin or his legal status.
They say it’s somehow ‘offensive’ to said suspect, and could cause a severe outbreak of ‘hurt feelings’ that spirals into general malaise and doubts of self-worth. Question… if your ‘culture’ is so proud, why such thin skin?
fngJD (49df46) — 6/16/2007 @ 9:28 amHere in Seattle, which is a Sanctuary City – by any definition – the police are not only ‘not required to inquire’ – they are forbidden from so doing as established policy.
Al (b624ac) — 6/16/2007 @ 10:38 amWhat is a “Sanctuary City”:
Obviously, any city that has self-proclaimed such status; and/or, any city that in any way has a “Special Order 40”.
Once we cut them off from the Fed trough, it won’t be so tough to start on the rest.
Another Drew (8018ee) — 6/16/2007 @ 4:32 pmIts too bad they didn’t define it as any locality not enforcing federal immigration and security requirements concerning immigration, either by prohibiting their employees or impeding the efforts of the officals of other localities, states or federal agencies.
Tancredo should have also made the head of each agency and the municipality fined up to 10,000 per incident, per individual.
Thomas Jackson (bf83e0) — 6/17/2007 @ 6:58 pm