On the recordJune 29, 2017
The gentlewoman is quite correct: everyone deserves to feel safe. Kate Steinle deserved to feel safe when she was walking down the pier with her father in San Francisco, when she was killed. Not enacting this legislation endangers public safety, not the opposite, as those on the other side have argued. How would you trust local government officials, who have instructed their law enforcement officers to not cooperate with Federal law enforcement officers to take dangerous criminals off of our streets, when this motion to recommit would say: ``Oh, they will have to certify that such compliance would endanger public safety and then the law wouldn't apply?'' It is circular reasoning. The nonenforcement of immigration laws has led to the bolstering of sanctuary jurisdiction policies in communities throughout the United States. These policies hamper the enforcement of Federal law and do nothing to truly promote trust between law enforcement and U.S. citizens. This bill provides a commonsense approach to fixing the damage caused by sanctuary policies without mandating any affirmative duty. In order to be in compliance with section 1373 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended in this bill, States and localities have no affirmative duties to act. They have no obligations to cooperate or communicate, or even engage with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at any level.…





