San Francisco Board Unanimously Reaffirms Sanctuary City Status

The murder of Kathryn Steinle and congressional efforts to block funding for sanctuary cities has not deterred San Francisco.

Tuesday the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a resolution urging local law enforcement not to comply with federal immigration authorities’ requests, the Associated Press reports.

The board members passed the resolution less than four months after an multiple deportee, illegal immigrant felon allegedly gunned Steinle down at a San Francisco pier. Shortly before, the shooter had been released from jail due to the city’s sanctuary city policy of not honoring immigration requests.

The murder has sparked a national outcry about the dangers of jurisdictions not cooperating with federal immigration authorities.

Indeed, the same day the Board reaffirmed its city’s sanctuary policy, Senate Republicans attempted to proceed to legislation targeting sanctuary cities and illegal immigrant criminals who illegally return to the U.S. Democrats, however, blocked the bill from getting to the floor for a final vote.

“I’m so proud of San Francisco,” Supervisor David Campos, a co-sponsor of the nonbonding resolution said, according to the AP. “I’m so proud that notwithstanding the climate at the national level of scapegoating immigrants that San Francisco went against that.”

While the San Francisco Board congratulated itself, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte chastised the body for continuing what he described as the “reckless sanctuary policy” that led to Steinle’s murder.

“Why do San Francisco officials think it is more important to shield dangerous criminal aliens from immigration enforcement than to protect the American people, including residents of their own city?” he asked rhetorically.

“The decision by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors once again demonstrates that the Obama Administration needs to crack down on dangerous sanctuary jurisdictions. It’s not enough for Secretary Johnson to publicly criticize sanctuary policies while refusing to take meaningful steps to end them. How many Americans must die at the hands of criminal aliens before the Obama Administration addresses this public safety crisis?” Goodlatte added.

The Center for Immigration Studies estimates there are some 340 sanctuary jurisdictions in the U.S. Those jurisdictions combined, CIS reports, release about 1,000 criminal immigrants per month.