The Louisiana House of Representatives is working to strip funding from sanctuary cities, after some such communities entered into a consent decree with Obama’s Department of Justice forbidding them from generally investigating suspects’ legal immigration status.
According to the Times-Picayune, the House passed a bill that “would ban New Orleans and other places the Louisiana Attorney General deems ‘sanctuary’ cities from using the state to borrow money for public building projects.” The bill will be sent to the Senate.
Led by Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, proponents of the bill moved quickly — New Orleans had ordered police to stop cooperating with federal immigration authorities in February. A consent decree published by the city of New Orleans reads: “NOPD members shall not make inquiries into an individual’s immigration status, except as authorized by this Chapter,” adding: “The enforcement of civil federal immigration laws falls exclusively within the authority of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE).” In effect, that stops local governments from enforcing immigration law when the federal government refuses to do so.
“The consent decree cannot preempt federal law,” Landry countered in the Times.
The city of New Orleans has vowed to fight the legislation. Democratic New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu defended illegal aliens in the city, turning the issue from an inquiry made by police after arresting a suspect into the prospect of pro-active police raids.
“NOPD will always work with federal immigration officials when there is a criminal warrant or following any crime. NOPD’s policy means we are going after violent criminals, not raiding churches and markets to apprehend people for civil immigration violations,” he said in a statement.
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