{"id":68863,"date":"2017-03-16T19:39:23","date_gmt":"2017-03-16T23:39:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=68863"},"modified":"2017-03-16T19:43:55","modified_gmt":"2017-03-16T23:43:55","slug":"sanctuary-cities-waging-jihad-against-immigration-enforcement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=68863","title":{"rendered":"SANCTUARY CITIES ‘WAGING JIHAD AGAINST IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT’"},"content":{"rendered":"

LEO HOHMANN<\/span>
\nWND.com<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

There are more than 300 sanctuary cities and counties, according to the Center for Immigration Studies. But another expert says it may be closer to 500.<\/p><\/div>\n

President Donald Trump needs to score a \u201cbig hit\u201d on the one issue that helped catapult him into the White House, and he needs it soon, say some of his staunchest supporters.<\/p>\n

After more than 50 days in office, Trump has struggled to hit a \u201chome-run\u201d on immigration, the kind that would solidify his base and send a message to his enemies.<\/p>\n

And it would seem that sanctuary cities would be a good place to start.<\/p>\n

Why not defund them, like yesterday? That\u2019s the question from Ann Corcoran, editor of Refugee Resettlement Watch.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead, Congress is entangled in one major mess over Obamacare. And, frankly, although important, repeal of Obamacare did not motivate voters to support Trump in the way immigration restriction did,\u201d said Corcoran.<\/p>\n

There are at least 300 sanctuary cities and counties, and one new study<\/a> puts the number at closer to 500.<\/p>\n

Steve Salvi, founder of Ohio Jobs & Justice PAC<\/a>, has been tracking sanctuary cities for 10 years. He says at least 40 cities and counties have declared themselves sanctuaries since Trump issued his executive order Jan. 27.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe trend is, I think, until he actually starts putting the squeeze to them, I suspect I\u2019ll be adding more to the list every week,\u201d Salvi told Lifezette. \u201cThe bigger cities are doubling down, and it\u2019s really become a hot political issue. It\u2019s really about the next election.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Salvi uses a different set of criteria to define a sanctuary city from that used by the Center for Immigration Studies, which stands by its late 2016 estimate of 300.<\/p>\n

While some jurisdictions have become sanctuaries, others such as Miami-Dade County have dropped out of that dubious club, says Jessica Vaughan, director of policy for CIS.<\/p>\n

But regardless of the number, nobody is suggesting that large numbers of sanctuary cities are backing down.<\/p>\n

And Trump has had a shockingly low level of support from the Republican Congress on immigration issues since assuming office on Jan. 20.<\/p>\n

Daniel Horowitz, senior editor of Conservative Review, writes<\/a>: \u201cLook at the House GOP\u2019s agenda since January. It has been devoid of any substance. What other majority party with control of the White House has failed to act on a single significant issue in its first 100 days? Why are they not passing bills defending Trump\u2019s executive order, and why are they not stripping the courts of jurisdiction over immigration?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies<\/p><\/div>\n

Vaughan said Trump could score big with a punch at sanctuary cities. The way to do it is to hit them in the pocketbook, cutting grants to police departments. The sooner this happens, the better, she said, although new Attorney General Jeff Sessions is still assembling his team at the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do hope DOJ follows through and starts blocking some of these law enforcement grants because until they do these big jurisdictions are going to keep doubling down on their sanctuary policies,\u201d Vaughan told WND. \u201cThey will not stop until somebody loses funding and then they will come around. They also could be sued in federal court. That\u2019s a fight we should be having.\u201d<\/p>\n

But there is risk in acting too soon, before the A-team is in place.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s waiting to get his team in place at the DOJ. He\u2019s already taken on some of the very important issue of extreme vetting with his executive order, but he\u2019s going to need the best possible team in place at DOJ to succeed on this jihad against immigration enforcement that\u2019s being waged by the open-borders advocacy groups that have been filling up their coffers with money to fight this.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can understand why the Trump administration is waiting, because they need to get the right people in place. They can\u2019t count on the people that were put into certain positions of authority by the Obama administration. Fighting all these fights before everyone is in place is not wise. The vetting order had to be done quickly, and we\u2019ve seen how that\u2019s played out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vaughan said her list of sanctuary cities is smaller\u00a0than Salvi\u2019s because she uses a more conservative criteria.<\/p>\n

\u201cI try to keep it to those which are deliberately obstructing ICE or have a policy that has that result, because that\u2019s what the law says, the section of federal law that makes it a crime to harbor illegal aliens,\u201d she said. \u201cMy gut feeling is it\u2019s moving in a direction, when you look at the net effect, that there are probably fewer sanctuaries now than there were before Trump took office. But I do know a number of fairly large jurisdictions, Suffolk County, New York, for example, which have turned away from being sanctuaries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patience wearing thin at ALIPAC<\/strong><\/p>\n

Still, patience is wearing thin among some immigration hawks.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration.<\/p><\/div>\n

William Gheen, president and founder of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, said his group is growing impatient with Trump. He sees the administration\u2019s accomplishments so far as \u201crather bleak\u201d on the issue of immigration.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t just have amnesty cities. Now we have an amnesty nation. And the amnesty orders are no longer Barack Obama\u2019s amnesty orders; they\u2019re Donald Trump\u2019s amnesty orders,\u201d Gheen said.<\/p>\n

Not only has Trump not pulled federal funding from sanctuary cities, but he has also left Obama\u2019s DACA executive order in place.<\/p>\n

DACA is the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a policy started by the Obama administration in June 2012 that allows certain illegal immigrants who entered the country as minors to receive a renewable two-year period of amnesty from deportation and eligibility for education and other government benefits.<\/p>\n

Gheen says ALIPAC still supports Trump and will leave its endorsement in place for at least another month.<\/p>\n

He said ALIPAC is doing an outreach <\/a>\u201cto try to find citizens to stand with us\u201d against legislative amnesty in Congress and White House-issued executive amnesty.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still endorsing Trump,\u201d he said. \u201cWe still want him to succeed and want his immigration promises to become policy. But he\u2019s breaking his promises, and his administration is signaling that they\u2019re willing to cut a deal on immigration reform\/amnesty, and that is unacceptable. So we\u2019ve drawn a line in the sand. We\u2019re engaging in campaigns to warn Trump to honor his promises.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said April 17 is the breaking point.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf DACA amnesty has not been dropped by then, we will change our endorsement of Trump and take a more adversarial position,\u201d Gheen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re an organization that has fiercely supported Donald Trump, and we\u2019re starting to think he\u2019s full of hot air. So why wouldn\u2019t these sanctuary cities think the same thing on immigration?\u201d he asked. \u201cThe promises he made gave him the power to defeat Bush and Clinton, and now he\u2019s in office, and our immigration hardliners like Joe Arpaio and Kris Kobach have been used politically and left out of the administration. Trump is nominating pro-amnesty people such as Alexander Acosta for Labor and others. Instead of fully and equally enforcing our laws, he apparently is continuing the exact same pro-DACA program that 26 states are suing to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overturning DACA only takes a memo, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe DACA amnesty that belonged to Obama and now belongs to Trump was created with memos, and now this president who railed against it on the campaign trail is continuing it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very important that conservatives stand up to Donald Trump on this issue immediately and fervently, and send a message that we\u2019re not going to stand with him on this,\u201d Gheen said. \u201cHe depends on his personality and the fact that so many liberals are attacking him every day. But this isn\u2019t liberals; this is constitutionalist conservatives sounding the alarm bells here that we endorsed Donald Trump for a reason, and we expect him to live up to his promises.\u201d<\/p>\n

___
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