After the Steinle Murder, the Recklessness of Sanctuary Cities Becomes Painfully Glaring

The term “sanctuary cities” generally refers to places that, through an act, ordinance, or policy, limit their police forces in assisting federal immigration authorities seeking to apprehend and remove illegal aliens. Even though these policies are illegal under federal law, hundreds of municipalities have adopted such measures.

 

Sanctuary policies thwart two important immigration programs: Secure Communities and so-called 287(g) agreements. Secure Communities became widely adopted in 2004 after the 9/11 Commission recommended the program as a way to facilitate greater cooperation between DHS, the FBI, and local police in the area of illegal immigration — almost half of the 19 hijackers were, of course, illegal aliens. The program provides that whenever police charge and fingerprint a suspect, those prints are sent to the FBI, which forwards them to DHS. If DHS finds the suspect to be an illegal alien, they send police a “detainer” form requiring them to hold the person until DHS can take him into custody. State and local authorities cannot opt out of this program.

The 287(g) program, on the other hand, authorizes state and local police to be certified and assist federal immigration agents in identifying illegal aliens.

“Sanctuary cities” like San Francisco obstruct both programs by refusing to turn illegal aliens over to DHS pursuant to a detainer request and by not allowing their officers to get involved in the 287(g) program.

These cities are likely in violation of federal law. Section 642 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act as well as section 434 of the Welfare Reform Act of 1996 prohibit state and local governments from impeding the federal government’s request for information about a person’s immigration status, and local officials may not be barred from maintaining such information.

A large portion of deportations come from detainers and a key regulation which DHS has relied on to ensure state and local governments honor and comply with them is 8 C.F.R. s 287.7(d). It states that “upon a determination by the Department to issue a detainer for an alien not otherwise detained by [local police], such agency shall maintain custody of the alien for a period [generally] not to exceed 48 hours . . . in order to permit assumption of custody by the Department.”

Open-borders legal advocates have long argued that the “shall” in this regulation actually means “may.”...