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| AG Jeff Sessions |
If a municipality wants access to its National Public Safety Partnership resources, the Justice Department announced Thursday, the local jurisdiction will have to demonstrate a commitment to cooperating with federal immigration agencies.
The program is aimed at providing federal training assistance to local law enforcement to combat violent crime. The program is designed to enable cities to consult with and receive coordinated training services and other resources from the Justice Department.
"By protecting criminals from immigration enforcement, cities and states with so-called 'sanctuary' policies make all of us less safe," Sessions said. "We saw that just last week, when an illegal alien who had been deported 20 times and was wanted by immigration authorities allegedly sexually assaulted an elderly woman in Portland, a city that refuses to cooperate with immigration enforcement."
Sessions was referring to reports that Sergio Jose Martinez, 31, was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a 65-year-old woman in Portland. Martinez had been deported at least 20 times to Mexico.
The charges against Martinez reportedly include robbery, kidnapping, burglary, and sexual abuse.
Sessions said sanctuary policies are driven by politics, with disregard for the safety of a jurisdiction's residents when officials don't cooperate with federal immigration authorities. The attorney general added:
By forcing police to go into more dangerous situations to re-arrest the same criminals, these policies endanger law enforcement officers more than anyone. The Department of Justice is committed to supporting our law enforcement at every level, and that's why we're asking 'sanctuary' jurisdictions to stop making their jobs harder.
By taking simple, commonsense considerations into account, we are encouraging every jurisdiction in this country to cooperate with federal law enforcement. That's what 80 percent of the American people want them to do, and that will ultimately make all of us safer—especially law enforcement on our streets.
The Justice Department initially selected 12 locations: Birmingham; Indianapolis; Memphis; Toledo; Baton Rouge; Buffalo; Cincinnati; Houston; Jackson, Tennessee; Kansas City, Missouri; Lansing, Michigan; and Springfield, Illinois. These are not sanctuary cities.
The Justice Department plans to consider other cities. In letters to officials in Albuquerque; Baltimore; San Bernardino, California; and Stockton, California, the agency asks these questions:
(2) Does your jurisdiction have a statute, rule, regulation, policy, or practice that is designed to ensure that your correctional and detention facilities provide at least 48 hours advance notice, where possible, to DHS regarding the scheduled release date and time of an alien in the jurisdiction's custody when DHS requests such notice in order to take custody of the alien?
(3) Does your jurisdiction have a statute, rule, regulation, policy, or practice that is designed to ensure that your correctional and detention facilities will honor a written request from DHS to hold a foreign national for up to 48 hours beyond the scheduled release date, in order to permit DHS to take custody of the foreign national?
Fred Lucas (@FredLucasWH) is the White House correspondent for The Daily Signal.
Tags: IJeff Sessions, warnsm sactuary cities, missing out, on help, fighting crime, Fred Lucas, The Daily signal To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
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