McClintock Urges Cutting Off All Federal Aid to Sanctuary Cities

State Sen. Tom McClintock spoke to a gathering of Minutemen from the Sacramento region on the steps of the State Capitol Tuesday.

In town for their annual ‘Lobby Day,’ the Minutemen make visits to lawmakers to raise awareness on issues stemming from illegal immigration. This year, one of the topics is crimes caused by illegal aliens. One high-profiled example is the murder case involving Edwin Ramos, a native of El Salvador who is charged with three counts of murder. Tony Bologna and his two sons, Michael and Matthew, who were on the way back from a family gathering, when they were brutally murdered following a traffic incident with Ramos in San Francisco’s Excelsior district.

According to news accounts in the San Francisco Chronicle, “San Francisco’s political establishment has long prided itself on providing a haven for illegal immigrants. Mayor Gavin Newsom even launched a taxpayer-funded $83,000 ” public awareness campaign” earlier this year assuring illegal immigrants that the “sanctuary city” by the bay was in their court. And indeed it is. Under the city’s 1989 voter-approved sanctuary ordinance, police officers and other city employees are prohibited from inquiring into immigration status. In addition, the city will not direct municipal funds or employees towards assisting federal immigration enforcement, unless such assistance is required by federal or state law or a warrant.”

Today, Sen. McClintock suggested that all federal aid to so-called “sanctuary cities” be cut off beginning with the city and county of San Francisco. “A local government that actively works to undermine our nation’s security and sovereignty has no claim to our nation’s resources and support.”

“The Minutemen have become our nation’s neighborhood watch, and I want to commend all of the law abiding, concerned Americans who have volunteered their own time and their own resources at enormous personal risk in order to assist the border patrol by peacefully reporting illegal incursions of our border,” McClintock said.

The Minutemen have become our nation’s neighborhood watch, and I want to commend all of the law abiding, concerned Americans who have volunteered their own time and their own resources at enormous personal risk in order to assist the border patrol by peacefully reporting illegal incursions of our border.

Our nation was built upon LEGAL immigration – the orderly process by which immigrants come to our country in order to become Americans – and they do so by acquiring a common language, a common culture, and a common appreciation of American constitutional principles and American legal traditions.

Illegal immigration undermines that process of legal immigration that makes our nation of immigrants possible.

We should never forget that there are hundreds of thousands of legal immigrants who, right now, are obeying our laws, waiting in line and doing everything our nation asks of them to do, while millions of illegal immigrants cut in line in front of them.

Last year, together, we defeated the amnesty bill in Congress that would have legalized and legitimized the presence of up to 20 million illegal aliens within our borders. It would have excused them from obeying the same laws as every legal immigrant who has respected our nation’s sovereignty.

There is nothing radical to insist that we do so. Every other nation in the world has immigration laws. The only difference is that every other nation in the world actually enforces them.

The supporters of last year’s amnesty bill never were able to explain what exactly is wrong with our current immigration laws – except that they’re not being enforced.

Indeed, a prerequisite for any future immigration laws is first to demonstrate a concerted determination to enforce our current ones.

We can start by expediting completion of the 700 miles of the border fence that Congress authorized last year, and that the Bush administration has dawdled on ever since. According to Congressman Duncan Hunter, who coauthored the “Secure Fence Act,” just ten miles of security fencing in San Diego reduced that county’s crime rate dramatically. Imagine what 700 miles would do.

Second, hundreds of armed incursions by Mexican military units in support of drug runners have been documented in recent years and we need to beef up our military presence on the border. Even the limited deployment of a few hundred unarmed National Guard troops last year had a significant impact on those sections that they patrolled.

Third, the government must at least demonstrate a determined, sustained effort to deport those illegal aliens it actually encounters through law enforcement or social service agencies. No immigration law is going to be taken seriously if illegal aliens can receive government-funded benefits while the government cheerfully ignores the fact that they’re not legally entitled to be here in the first place.

Fourth, sanctions against employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants need to be just as rigorously enforced as all of our other labor laws. There is no excuse for those who would shortchange American citizens and legal immigrants in order to employ those who violate our nation’s sovereignty.

If our state and federal labor agencies can audit every scrap of employment minutia down to lunch and bathroom breaks, they should certainly be able to determine the legal residency requirements that were supposed to be the cornerstone of the 1986 immigration act.

Fifth, we should cut off all federal aid to so-called “sanctuary cities” beginning with the city and county of San Francisco. A local government that actively works to undermine our nation’s security and sovereignty has no claim to our nation’s resources and support.

These modest steps toward enforcing existing law would not only stop the immediate demand on services that is overwhelming our schools, our hospitals and our prisons, it would also produce the voluntary departure of that portion of the illegal population drawn here by public handouts and the underground economy.

Citizenship should be reserved for those who obey our laws – starting with our immigration laws – as hundreds of thousands of legal immigrants are doing right now to fulfill their dream of becoming loyal Americans.

And together, these steps – which require nothing more than the faithful enforcement of existing law — would preserve our nation as a melting pot for many future generations of legal immigrants from around the world who sincerely seek to become Americans and “to secure the blessings of liberty” to themselves and their posterity.

I agree. They never fail to threaten highway funds against states that don’t toe the newest nanny line.

And this is much worse than any speed limit.

If we ever regain the majority in the congress, Tom McClintock should be the speaker. I wonder what Tom thinks of Sarah?

4 posted on 09/03/2008 8:41:02 AM PDT by Kevmo (Obama Birth Certificate is a Forgery. http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/certifigate/index?tab=articles)

It is wrong for cities to aid and abet illegal aliens. But it is also wrong for the federal government to take our taxes money and only return our money when we do what they want us to. You might agree with sanctuary cities but this tactic is done all the time for many reason. If we don't put in carpool lanes states will federal highway funds. The federal government has no constitutional right to make local citizens change state and local laws, so they take our money and only give it back if we bow to there superior a loftily inside the beltway wisdom. If there were any argument to support with hold money this would be it but what else would some bureaucrats in Washington with hold money for to force to comply.

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