The Republicans used their weekly address to the nation to criticize the status quo on “sanctuary cities” and to highlight a bill the GOP is trying to advance through Congress.
The bill would help enact “Kate’s Law,” named for Kate Steinle who was killed in California in July, in a case that has garnered national attention.
“Jim Steinle was walking arm-in-arm with his daughter Kate on a San Francisco pier. Suddenly a gunman opened fire, hitting Kate. She fell in her father’s arms, pleading, ‘help me, Dad,’ as she bled to death,” Sen. Pat Toomey, Pa., said.
Related Story: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2574118/
“He was an illegal immigrant, who had been previously convicted of seven felonies and deported five times. … The Department of Homeland Security had asked San Francisco police to hold this man until they could pick him up. But San Francisco refused to cooperate,” Toomey continued. “Why did they do that? Because San Francisco is a ‘sanctuary city.’ That means it forbids its local police officers from cooperating with federal immigration officials — even when they want to.”
The bill “provides a five-year mandatory minimum sentence for any illegal immigrant who re-enters the U.S after having been convicted of an aggravated felony, or having been twice convicted of illegally re-entering the U.S,” Toomey said.
“This should be a bipartisan effort. President Obama’s own secretary of Homeland Security has declared that sanctuary cities are, quote, ‘not acceptable’ and ‘counter-productive to public safety,'” he added.
The Senate is set to vote on the bill this Tuesday, but there are signs the Senate Democrats will attempt to block a vote.
