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Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly speaks about immigration reform at a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Photo by REUTERS/Joshua Roberts.

WASHINGTON Warning of threats to public safety and national security, the Republican-led House on Thursday approved two bills to crack down on illegal immigration, a key priority for President Donald Trump.

One bill would strip federal dollars from self-proclaimed sanctuary cities that shield residents from federal immigration authorities, while a separate measure would stiffen punishments for people who re-enter the U.S. illegally.

The sanctuary measure was approved 228-195, while the bill to punish deportees was approved 257-167.

Trump often railed against illegal immigration during his presidential campaign, and his support for tougher immigration policies is crucial to his voting base. Trump met at the White House on Wednesday with more than a dozen people whose family members were killed by people in the country illegally, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions met with the families Thursday.

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One of the bills, known as Kates Law, would impose harsher prison sentences on deportees who re-enter the United States. The bill is named after 32-year old Kathryn Steinle, who was shot and killed in San Francisco in 2015 by a man who was in the country illegally. Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, who pleaded not guilty to the crime, had been released by sheriffs officials months earlier despite a request by immigration officials to keep him behind bars.

The second bill would bar states and localities that refuse to cooperate with immigration authorities from receiving certain Justice Department and Homeland Security grants, including some related to law enforcement and terrorism.

Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said the two bills would help avoid the kind of tragic circumstances that have totally involved the lives of the people who were at the White House speaking up for their loved ones.

The sanctuary measure follows a simple principle that if youre going to receive taxpayer dollars from the federal government to keep people safe, that youve got to follow the law and keep them safe, Goodlatte said.

Democrats said the bills were feel-good measures intended to make lawmakers look tough on crime.

READ MORE: Trump administration keeps DACA program, shields young immigrants from deportation

Were not doing bumper stickers here. We are doing laws, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif, said.

She and other Democrats said the sanctuary measure was about telling people how to police their cities and telling local officials that we in Washington, D.C., know better than you do.

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said he appreciates Congress effort to address the dangers of sanctuary cities and illegal immigrant offenders.

At a news conference at the Capitol with House Speaker Paul Ryan, Kelly said his agency will enforce the laws that are passed by Congress, adding, I am offended when members of this institution put pressure and often threaten me and my officers to ignore the laws they make.

A spokesman said later that Kelly will continue to push back against any attempt pressure, threat or otherwise to ignore the enforcement of immigration law.

Enforcement is not selective, occasional or arbitrary, its the law, spokesman David Lapan said.

READ MORE: President Trump urges passage of House immigration bills

The Justice Departments inspector general has identified California and major cities such as Chicago, New York and Philadelphia as locales with barriers to information-sharing among local police and immigration officials. The Trump administration warned nine jurisdictions in late April that they could lose coveted law enforcement grant money unless they document cooperation.

Sessions said Steinle would still be alive today if only the city of San Francisco had put the publics safety first. How many more Americans must die before we put an end to this madness?

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., said Kates Law would not have had an impact on the Steinle case, noting that Steinle was killed in July 2015 by an immigrant who had been mistakenly released by the federal Bureau of Prisons.

The proposed bill would not have kept Kate Steinles killer off the streets, Gutierrez said. Instead, we are voting on a bill to put other people in different circumstances in jail for longer periods of time. It is a bait-and-switch strategy: Use a horrible tragedy to sell a policy that would not have prevented that death, so that you put more immigrants in jail for longer periods of time.

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An illegal immigrantis set to be awarded $190,000 from San Franciscoafter police turned him over to immigration authorities, which is a violation of the city's sanctuary policy.

Pedro Figueroa-Zarceno, who is fromEl Salvador and was living in the U.S. illegally, walked into a police station on December 2, 2015, to recover his stolen car. When he left the station, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) immediately took him into custody.

Figueroa-Zarceno recently reached the massive settlement agreement with the city attorney's office. The agreement must be approved by the city's Board of Supervisors.

Immigration advocateRoberto Hernandez joined Tucker Carlson tonight to debate the controversial payout.

Tucker argued it's "insane" that the city is payingHernandez because they actually enforced U.S. federal immigration law.

"You shouldn't pay a criminal for breaking the law," Tucker said. "And that's what San Francisco is doing."

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Hernandez said that San Francisco has a sanctuary policy because citizens and city leaders believe that the federal government's immigration policy has failed.

"In San Francisco, we are different. We are progressive. We think different. We're leaders when it comes to being humanitarians,"Hernandez said.

Tucker asked why San Francisco is willing to ignore federal law, but only for illegal immigrants.

"If I'm wanted for tax evasion in another state and the San Francisco police turn me over to the feds, why shouldn't I be able to sue the city of San Francisco for cooperating with the federal authorities?" he asked. "Why do only illegal aliens have this privilege in your city?"

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See the rest here:
Tucker on SF's $190K Payout to Illegal Immigrant: 'You Shouldn't Pay a Criminal for Breaking the Law' - Fox News Insider

A church in North Carolina has sheltered an illegal immigrant and her children, shielding her from arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)agents Friday.

Congregational United Church of Christ in Greensboro, N.C. began protectingMinerva Cisneros Garcia from deportation Wednesday, according to Winston-Salem Journal. Garcia received notice from ICE officials in May that they would no longer grant her a stay of removal and that she was required to show them a bus ticket to Mexico by Friday. Garcia initially rejected the idea of taking the churchs offer of sanctuary, but now resides therewith her two youngest sons.

ICE will not arrest and deport Garcia because of their policy of avoiding arrests in sensitive locations, which includes places of worship. Garcia has three sons, the youngest of which, ages 6 and 3, are U.S. citizens. Garcias oldest son, who is blind and aged 21, while not a citizen of the U.S. is protected under the Obama-era policy ofDeferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

The pastor of the church,Rev. Julie Peeples, notified ICE of the sanctuary they have provided to Garcia and her children. ICE has yet to respond at this time.

The church is one of several around the nation that hasself-declared as a sanctuary church, shielding illegal immigrants in their community from arrest and deportation for over a year.

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Church Blocks Deportation Of Illegal Immigrant - The Daily Caller

An illegal immigrant who found himself detained and turned over to federal immigration authorities is poised to collect $190,000 from the city of San Francisco, according to KPIX-5.

The TV station reported that city lawyers have agreed to pay the settlement to Pedro Figueroa-Zarceno, a native of El Salvador who sued, alleging the city violated its sanctuary policy by alerting Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The citys Board of Supervisors still must approve the deal, but there does not appear to be much opposition.

It is a powerful reminder that even as the House of Representatives on Thursday passed a pair of measures to crack down on sanctuary policies and increase penalties for repeat illegal immigrants with criminal records, progressive cities such asSan Francisco are zooming in the opposite direction.

"That is beyond backwards. That is perverse," said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies. "Talk about an incentive to come here illegally. I just can't wrap my head around that."

It is unclear how much San Francisco has paid on litigation costs associated with its sanctuary executive order. The Immigration Reform Law Institute, the legal arm of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said the city denied its open records request on attorney-client grounds.

San Francisco adopted its sanctuary policy in 1989, becoming one of the first jurisdictions in the country to prohibit police from cooperating with federal officials on immigration enforcement.

Yet when Figueroa-Zarceno went to the police station in December 2015 to recover his stolen car, someone tipped off ICE. He found himself detained for two months, marked for deportation. Officials, in fact, had issued a civil deportation order back in 2005, according to KPIX.

Figueroa-Zarceno is fighting his deportation and has a hearing date in 2019, according to the TV station.

"There's an insanity in California that is just unfathomable."

KPIX also reported that the police department is promising "serious consequences" if it determines any officer violated policies and procedures. John Cot, a spokesman for San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera, told the news outlet that sanctuary policies foster trust between law enforcement officers and residents.

"This proposed settlement is a fair resolution for all of the parties involved," he said.

Joseph Guzzardi, a spokesman for Californians for Population Stabilization, ripped San Francisco's decision to agree to a six-figure settlement with a man who is not even in the country legally.

"It just goes to show the extent to which San Francisco city officials are willing to go to support their own sanctuary policies," he said. "It's completely and totally an assault on taxpayers and not justifiable in any way."

David Cross, a spokesman for Oregonians for Immigration Reform, agreed.

"There's an insanity in California that is just unfathomable," he said.

The settlement even drew comments during the House debate over the immigration bills. Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), who sponsored both bills, said it is disappointing San Francisco would pay an illegal immigrant considering the city was the location of the shooting death two years ago of tourist Kate Steinle, allegedly at the hands of another illegal immigrant.

"People who are murdered, people who are injured by people who are unlawfully present in the United States, should have their day in court with the city of San Francisco or anyplace else," he said.

Visit link:
San Francisco Poised to Pay $190000 to Illegal Immigrant - LifeZette

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

On a Thursday morning in January 2015, Grant Ronnebeck, a 21-year-old convenience store clerk, was working the graveyard shift at a Quick Trip in Mesa, Arizona. Just before 4 a.m., an angry customer walked in, demanded a pack of cigarettes, and dumped a handful of change on the store counter. When Grant attempted to count the money, the man pointed a gun at Grants head. Grant immediately handed over the cigarettes. The man murdered Grant, took the cigarettes, and casually walked out of the store.

This is a tragic and heartbreaking story by any account, but it is unthinkable to realize that it was absolutely preventable. The perpetrator, Apolinar Altamirano, was an illegal immigrant with a long criminal record who had been released from federal custody while awaiting deportation proceedings. Had Altamirano remained in custody and been swiftly deported, he and Grant Ronnebeck would never have encountered each other and Grant would still be with us today.

Sadly, this isnt the only instance in which an innocent American has been the victim of a crime by an illegal immigrant. In 2014, Mesa police officer Brandon Mendoza was killed in a wrong-way car crash by an illegal immigrant driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol. In 2015, Kate Steinle was killed by a stray bullet fired by an illegal immigrant in possession of a stolen firearm. In January 2016, Sarah Root was killed by an illegal immigrant who was street racing while drunk in Omaha, Nebraska. In Sarahs case, her killer, Eswin G. Mejia, was released after posting a small bond and was never heard from again. These are three high-profile cases that many Americans are familiar with. But they are not the only ones.

Despite tragic stories like these, the Obama administration promoted policies that circumvented many of our immigration laws, allowing thousands of violent criminals to return to our communities. Worse still, cities around the country implemented sanctuary policies, providing safe haven to all illegal immigrants, including the criminally violent. Actions like these have directly led to the demise of our immigration system and put illegal immigrants ahead of the safety of Americans. If we are going to regain control over our immigration system, it is time to ensure policies like these no longer remain in place. That is why I am very pleased to have co-authored H.R.3003, the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act, which includes a section specifically addressing illegals who commit the types of crimes perpetrated in Grant, Kate, Brandon and Sarahs deaths.

The No Sanctuary for Criminals Act will finally put penalties in place for cities, states, and local law enforcement agencies that implement sanctuary policies by disqualifying them for certain federal grants. No jurisdiction should have the opportunity to benefit from federal taxpayer dollars while blatantly violating federal law and endangering the lives of Americans. It will also place responsibility on those jurisdictions who release illegal immigrants after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement asks for them to be detained by allowing victims of crimes committed by these individuals to directly sue the jurisdiction. Finally, H.R.3003 would ensure that illegal immigrants who wind up in custody for crimes will not be released back onto our streets and will not have the chance to commit additional crimes.

I am thankful that House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte recognized the need for this important legislation and was willing to work with me and Grants father, Steve Ronnebeck, to ensure its passage in the U.S. House of Representatives. I am also thankful for President Trumps commitment to immigration enforcement in the early months of his presidency. Earlier this year, President Trump signed an executive order which eliminated catch and release and sanctuary city policies. H.R.3003 codifies the policies in his executive order to ensure no future president can unilaterally change them. I look forward to H.R. 3003s swift consideration in the U.S. Senate and being signed into law by President Trump.

Andy Biggs is a Republican U.S. representative from Arizona.

See more here:
Illegal immigrants who commit crimes get a break under Obama ... - Washington Times