After Kate Steinle's Tragic Death, Congress Finally Targets Sanctuary Cities

Townhall.com:

In light of the tragic death of Kate Steinle, who was killed by an illegal immigrant in San Francisco, Congress is debating legislation to deal with so-called sanctuary cities. The thought was that these local ordinances would allow illegal immigrants to report crimes without fear of deportation. Well, this skirting of federal immigration law has reaped some awful results. Yesterday, the House passed legislation that would withhold funds to cities that have passed sanctuary ordinances (via the Hill):

House Republicans passed legislation on Thursday that would deny federal funds to sanctuary cities. 

The bill, passed 241-179, would withhold certain federal law enforcement grants to cities that have policies designed to shelter illegal immigrants from deportation.
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Critics of the sanctuary laws say such policies encourage people to immigrate to the U.S. illegally at the expense of citizens.

“A refuge for whom? A sanctuary for whom?” Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said. “A sanctuary for Kate Steinle? Or a refuge for a convicted felon with a 25-year-long criminal history?”

Democrats accused House Republicans of bringing up the bill in part because of real estate mogul and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s focus on illegal immigration and sanctuary cities; they dubbed the bill the “Donald Trump Act.”

“Just a few weeks into his campaign and Donald Trump has a bill on the floor of the House. That is better than some of the senators he’s running against.” Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) said mockingly.

Republicans denied that Trump had any influence on their decision to bring up the legislation.

“This is a valid concern that we’re voting on today,” said Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.), who has often broken with his party on immigration in the past and said he finds Trump’s comments offensive. “I’m not going to let Donald Trump dictate my vote.”

Five Republicans joined all but six Democrats in opposing the measure.

The five Republicans who voted against the bill were Reps. Carlos Curbelo (Fla.), Bob Dold (Ill.), Dan Donovan (N.Y.), Pete King (N.Y.) and Dave Reichert (Wash.).

Six Democrats voted for the bill, in a break from previous immigration votes in which the party voted unanimously. The Democrats voting yes were centrist Reps. Ami Bera (Calif.), Jim Cooper (Tenn.), Henry Cuellar (Texas), Bill Keating (Mass.), Collin Peterson (Minn.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.).

The sanctuary city debate centers on laws that are aimed at encouraging illegal immigrants to report crimes to the police without fear of deportation.

RELATED: Kate Steinle's family continues push for immigration reform