Chicago Mayor and former Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel professes the defiance of his city of federal law in its sanctuary policies. He says, “To be clear about what Chicago is, it always will be a sanctuary city.” He assures those illegal aliens in the city that they have nothing to worry about, Emanuel is going to defy President Trump. Gregg Jarrett explains that the definition of a sanctuary city is subject in many ways to interpretation but in some cities, such as Chicago and San Francisco, the city leadership is aggressive in their protection of illegal aliens from federal law and immigration enforcement.
Jarrett notes the case of Kate Steinle, who was murdered by a five-time deported multiple felony conviction illegal alien who was ordered held by federal officials but was instead released as was the local Sheriff Department’s policy.
Jarrett points out that these policies violate two federal laws. In 1996 Congress passed a law that specifically bans sanctuary cities, the Immigration Reform Act. Another law, the Harboring Aliens Act, is described by Jarrett as really having teeth.
It states, “Any person who, knowing that an alien remains in the US in violation of the law, conceals, harbors or shields that person from detection… shall be fined under title 18, imprisoned not more than ten years”
Jarrett notes, “Now ten years is serious stuff. So if a police chief or a sheriff does what this sheriff did in San Francisco, they can be indicted, charged, they can be tried, they can be convicted and do serious time behind bars. And by the way, in the past, federal courts have upheld sanctuary worker convictions.”
He says it’s absolutely possible that local officials could be charged under federal law. Jarrett notes that under the supremacy clause of the Constitution, “You’ve got to follow federal law. You can’t pass some local San Francisco ordinance that defies federal law.” Jarrett notes the posturing of Donald Trump on the campaign leaves little doubt that at a minimum federal funds will be withheld from sanctuary cities under President Trump.
The laws already exist for correcting much of the damage inflicted by Hussein Obama. The only thing lacking is the enforcement.
