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From New York to Chicago and the Denver suburbs, migrant gangs are mugging and raping people, robbing stores, running brothels next door to elementary schools, and using guns to threaten apartment dwellers in order to take over residential buildings, all without fear of being deported. These gangs are turning entire neighborhoods into hellholes.
Blame insane “sanctuary” laws for this.
The word “sanctuary” sounds charitable, but don’t be fooled. It doesn’t mean welcoming the downtrodden. It actually bars police from sharing arrest information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement so the agency can take illegals who are arrested for violent crimes into custody and deport them.
One thing is certain: If Kamala wins, so do the gangs. As border czar she let them in, and as president she’d shield them from deportation.
Sanctuary laws shield criminals from removal. Eleven states and some 600 towns and cities, mostly controlled by Democrats, have them. Because of these laws, migrant lawbreakers go through the revolving-door justice system and then back onto the streets to strike again.
Americans have a choice: Last Saturday, presidential candidate Donald Trump promised to work with Congress to outlaw sanctuary jurisdictions.
The other choice is Vice President Kamala Harris. Though she’s apparently taken a vow of silence on her policy positions, her record shows San Franciscans died because of her policies on migrant crime when she was the city’s district attorney.
Victims of Harris’s “Sanctuary” Laws
In 2008, Edwin Ramos, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, murdered a man and his two sons. Ramos already had a history of juvenile arrests for assault and attempted robbery. Had San Francisco police cooperated with federal immigration authorities, Ramos might have been deported instead of left free to commit a triple homicide.
It’s a similar story for Rony Aguilera, an illegal from Honduras, who murdered 14-year-old Ivan Miranda in 2008, nearly decapitating him in the process. He’d had several earlier run-ins with police but was still in San Francisco, ready to kill.
A New York Times feature, published Sunday, claims “Harris cracked down on violent offenders” but conveniently omits any mention of Ramos or Aguilera and their victims.
Handcuffing ICE
As a U.S. senator, Harris in 2017 voted against a bill to increase penalties for criminals who repeatedly enter the country illegally after being deported and commit more crimes.
Then in 2019, when Harris launched her first campaign for president, she filled out an American Civil Liberties Union questionnaire and stated that local law enforcement should “not act as federal immigration agents.”
She also wrote that as attorney general, she told California law enforcement agencies that “they did not have to comply with ICE detainers,” meaning they could ignore federal requests to hold migrant suspects for deportation.
These same policies are now causing migrant crime to explode nationwide. Seven Colorado counties in the clutches of the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua are suing to overturn sanctuary laws that prevent local police from cooperating with ICE to send gang members packing.
How About Sanctuary for Citizens?
New York’s sanctuary laws have enabled the same Venezuelan gang to set up headquarters in migrant shelters across the five boroughs and terrorize the public without fear of being deported.
Crime victims can thank their own woke politicians for that.
Mayor Eric Adams has called for amending the city’s laws. But the far-left City Council isn’t budging.
On Friday, House Republicans offered a bill to withhold federal aid for migrants from sanctuary jurisdictions. Outrageously, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) opposed it, claiming it would “scapegoat immigrants.” That’s partisan blather. Police estimate that as many as 75% of arrests for assault and robbery in midtown Manhattan — Nadler’s district — involve recently arrived migrants.
On Saturday, Trump pledged to “hunt down and capture every single gang member … that is being illegally harbored.” A tall order, but the place to start is allowing local police to cooperate with ICE.
If Kamala Wins, So Do the Gangs
Sanctuary laws must be overturned.
Trump tried doing this by executive order in 2017, cutting funding to sanctuary jurisdictions, but was hit with a slew of legal challenges from blue-state politicians and a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that only Congress, not the president, can impose terms on how federal money is spent. If Trump wins in November, he plans to avoid legal roadblocks by asking Congress to help. The election will determine whether that strategy can succeed.
One thing is certain: If Kamala wins, so do the gangs. As border czar she let them in, and as president she’d shield them from deportation.
Under a Harris presidency, plan to bolt your doors, hold onto your wallets, and stay guarded as you walk around your neighborhood — until it’s no longer walkable.
Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York and chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths. Follow her on Twitter @Betsy_McCaughey. To find out more about Betsy McCaughey and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com. The Stream has added relevant information to this column.
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