Sanctuary Cities Explained

Sanctuary Cities Explained

Francisco Acuna, Reporter

A sanctuary city is a city that follows certain procedures to protect illegal immigrants from prosecution. In the 1980’s these cities began to appear as a way of providing shelter to immigrants mainly from Latin America. President Trump and many others feel that sanctuary cities allow criminals to stay in the country. There are more than 200 sanctuary cities in the U.S. Some of the biggest sanctuary cities are Miami, New York City, San Francisco, and even our capital, Washington D.C.. President Trump signed an executive order saying that jurisdictions who refuse to comply with the federal government on immigration laws will not be able to receive federal funding. He is specifically targeting California. Though the state comes in at 46th for federal funding, the University of California receives at least  $9 billion in federal funding annually.

The law reads that presidents are “compelled” to cut funding from cities who are out of compliance, but past presidents have mostly ignored this.  Congress is asking to put an end to one aspect of Sanctuary Cities – the Stop Illegal Reentry Act, known also as Kate’s Law whereby undocumented aliens who are deported and return to the United States would receive a mandatory five year sentence in a federal penitentiary upon conviction.  The legislation is named for Kate Steinle, a 32-year-old who was fatally shot by a felon in San Francisco who had been deported five times, but returned to the U.S. President Trump says, “If we have to, we’ll cut funding. We give tremendous amounts of money to California.”