By Steve Levy
Kudos to the Trump administration for initiating litigation against various blue cities and states that have instituted sanctuary venues.
I often scratch my head wondering how these elected officials, sworn to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the land, could be enacting policies that shield criminals from federal authorities.
Think about a situation where a fugitive for murder is on the loose and that person came into custody with the state or local government. Those officers have an obligation to coordinate with the federal government to protect the population.
If they are told they cannot work with the federal officials in taking this person off the streets, how is that any different than the indicted judge in Milwaukee, who harbored an illegal immigrant at her home for the purposes of shielding him from federal agents seeking his deportation?
There’s no question that the actions of the sanctuary cities are immoral and dangerous. The question here is whether they’re illegal. I believe Trump’s lawyers have a good case.
The Supremacy Clause of the Constitution states that federal law supersedes that of the state where there’s a conflict. When it comes to immigration, that doesn’t mean that local authorities must create units to find illegal aliens and deport them. That is the federal government’s job. But we’re talking about instances where they know they have custody of an illegal immigrant and they have refused to cooperate with federal authorities whose mission it is to enforce our immigration laws.
It’s about time this illegality is shut down. And if it’s not shut down by the court, President Trump should shut it down by holding back on funds to cities that employ this horrible policy that places our residents at risk.