House Passes Bill to Withhold Certain Grants From ‘Sanctuary Cities’

Wall Street Journal

By Isaac Stanley-Becker

July 23, 2015

House Passes Bill to Withhold Certain Grants From ‘Sanctuary Cities’

The Republican-controlled House Thursday passed legislation that would withhold federal law-enforcement grants from cities that shelter illegal immigrants from federal authorities, part of a campaign to punish what are known as sanctuary cities.

The bill, passed 241-179, is the GOP’s answer to the shooting this month of Kathryn Steinle, 32 years old, on a San Francisco pier, allegedly by an illegal immigrant who had been convicted of seven felonies and previously deported to Mexico.

President Barack Obama would veto the House bill if it reached his desk, the administration said Thursday. It said the bill, by compelling local law enforcement to help investigate citizenship status, would threaten civil rights, sow seeds of distrust between communities and the agents charged with keeping them safe, and thwart the administration’s immigration enforcement priorities. The National League of Cities, the U.S. Conference of Mayors and scores of immigration advocacy groups have lined up against the legislation.

Momentum is building on the other side of the Capitol to advance similar legislation, but Senate leaders said they are still considering the timing. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing Tuesday that featured testimony from Ms. Steinle’s father, a dramatic opening to the committee’s work on a similar bill, which would aim to compel sanctuary cities to heed federal immigration directives.

Spurred by the violence in San Francisco, the House measure—carried by a solid Republican majority—successfully bridged a deepening GOP divide over how to handle the surge of people from Mexico and Central America seeking entry to the U.S. in the last several decades. Republicans in both chambers say the measure is a necessary response to local ordinances that instruct public employees not to cooperate with federal immigration officials, while Democrats say it is an attack on immigrants, the preponderance of whom faithfully abide by the country’s laws.

Under San Francisco’s sanctuary city policy, the man charged in Ms. Steinle’s death was released by local law enforcement despite a request by Immigration and Customs Enforcement that he be held so it could take him into custody and deport him, the agency has said. Roughly 200 municipalities have ordinances that direct local officials not to help federal authorities with certain immigration investigations and arrests.

Rep. Mike Coffman, (R., Colo.) whose district is almost 20% Hispanic, favored the measure, saying “it cannot be seen as anti-immigrant, as anti-Hispanic. It has to be seen simply as pro-law enforcement.”

The delicate balance embraced by Mr. Coffman reflects the precarious position in which Republicans—both on Capitol Hill and on the presidential campaign trail—have found themselves on immigration policy. The House’s Thursday vote coincided with a trip to the border by Republican presidential candidate and real estate mogul Donald Trump, who has roiled the party with derogatory comments about immigrants. The timing wasn’t lost on Democrats.

“The Donald Trump wing of the Republican party is clearly ascendant today,” Rep Lloyd Doggett (D., Texas) said Thursday on the House floor.

Several Republican rivals, including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, have sought to distance themselves from Mr. Trump’s views.

In Congress, these disagreements have halted comprehensive immigration overhaul, despite pockets of Republican support. In 2013, 14 Republicans joined Democrats in the Senate in advancing a comprehensive bill, which was swiftly spurned by Republican leadership in the House.

For House Republicans who would prefer a full overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws, the effort to penalize sanctuary cities is evidence their party is wedded to a misguided approach.

“This is a messaging piece of legislation aimed at addressing a very sad, horrible tragedy in San Francisco,” said Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R., Fla.), a leading Republican dissident on immigration, on Wednesday. “But this isn’t going to solve the problem. This isn’t going to secure the border. It’s not going to reform our visa system. And it isn’t going to help us identify those who are living in our country illegally.”

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R., Calif.), who sponsored the House bill, said the proposal doesn’t purport to address broader problems with the way people enter the country—a solution to which he said is politically unfeasible.

House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) told reporters Thursday the House’s bill would put states and cities “on notice that we will no longer allow them to decide how and when to ignore our nation’s laws.”

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