Mediaboss Marketing

by Boris Epshteyn, Chief Political Analyst

This maps shows cities and counties that are considered "sanctuaries" for undocumented immigrants. (Center for Immigration Studies / Google Maps) 

EDITOR'S NOTE: Boris Epshteyn formerly served as a Senior Advisor to the Trump Campaign and served in the White House as Special Assistant to The President and Assistant Communications Director for Surrogate Operations.

WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) - We are a country of laws.

Cities across the country cannot choose which federal laws to follow and which to ignore.

Sanctuary cities are those that actively do not cooperate with the federal governments efforts to enforce immigration law.

President Trump signed an executive order back in January that would strip federal funding from sanctuary cities such as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Baltimore.

That is millions of dollars at stake for these communities that, in many cases, desperately need it. Perhaps this monetary squeeze will cause for these cities to comply with federal immigration law.

Of course, there has been some push back from the cities.

Local officials argue that by maintaining their sanctuary city status, they are making their communities safer and helping their local economy.

Chicago has even filed a lawsuit pushing to be able to keep sanctuary status and federal money, funded by you, the tax payer.

Talk about trying to have your cake and eat it, too.

I believe sanctuary cities are a shield for illegal immigrants to stay in this country illegally and to commit other crimes.

We can look at the murder of Kate Steinle as an example. She was shot and killed while walking in San Francisco with her father. The man accused of the shooting, who is about to stand trial, is an illegal immigrant and a convicted felon, who was deported from the U.S. five times. San Francisco, as a sanctuary city, released him months before the shooting instead of turning him over to federal authorities before the shooting.

The bottom line is this. Sanctuary cities should not exist because they promote lawlessness and incentivize illegal immigration. Federal law has to be followed and if it is not, these cities will face dire financial consequences. A decision by any sanctuary city to forego federal funds in order to continue supporting illegal immigration would be absolutely unfair to US citizens and legal immigrants residing there.

Read this article:
Opinion: Cities providing sanctuary to illegal immigrants should lose federal funding - WJLA