The Hill
By Cristina Marcos
July 22, 2015
House
GOP leaders have won over one of the most ardent immigration hardliners
for a bill to defund sanctuary cities in a sign it won't face backlash
from the right.
Rep.
Steve King (R-Iowa) said he assured House Majority Leader Kevin
McCarthy (R-Calif.) in a Monday phone call that he will support a bill
expected on the House floor
Thursday to withhold federal law enforcement grant funding for state or
local governments that don’t cooperate with federal immigration
authorities.
NumbersUSA
urged lawmakers to vote against the bill because the anti-immigration
advocacy group doesn’t believe it goes far enough. That raised questions
of whether some
conservatives would rally against the measure.
The
group pointed to an amendment authored by King to a Justice Department
appropriations bill earlier this year that it says is more expansive.
House
Republicans are bringing up the bill in response to the death earlier
this month in San Francisco of Kathryn Steinle, who was allegedly shot
by an illegal immigrant
with a history of felony charges. The suspect was released in April by
local law enforcement in defiance of a request from U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement officials that they receive notification of his
release.
In
an email to members of the Conservative Opportunity Society, a group of
Republicans he chairs, King said the bill “moves the ball in the right
direction."
However, King said he “advised McCarthy that a lot of conservatives would be disappointed because we should be doing more.”
King
added that McCarthy “expressed commitment” during their phone
conversation to bring immigration enforcement legislation to the House
floor after the August recess.
King’s
amendment, which passed 227-198 in June, also prohibits Justice
Department grants from being used for policies employed by sanctuary
cities to shelter illegal immigrants.
King said it would be “illogical” to oppose the bill authored by Rep.
Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) slated to hit the floor this week, given that
it is similar to his measure.
Fourteen
Republicans who hold more centrist views on immigration voted against
King's amendment, in a sign of likely defections in Thursday's vote.
Democrats,
meanwhile, are calling the bill the “Donald Trump Act,” in reference to
the billionaire real estate mogul and GOP presidential candidate’s
controversial comments
insinuating that Mexican immigrants were criminals. Trump has ramped up
his immigration rhetoric while Steinle’s death remains in news
headlines.
“With
this vote, House Republicans are running to embrace Donald Trump’s
racist and offensive views. Donald Trump should not be setting the
agenda for the United States
Congress,” Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairwoman Linda Sanchez
(D-Calif.) said in a statement.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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