Friday marks the one-year anniversary of the murder of Kathryn Steinle and next week the Senate is slated to consider legislation offered in response to her death.
On tap for the Senate will be a bill offered by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) targeting the funding for sanctuary cities, or jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration officials.
“My legislation stands for the simple proposition that the safety of the American people matters,” Toomey explained this week.
“The life of Kate Steinle matters,” he continued. “Protecting our neighborhoods from violent criminals and terrorists matters. As the Steinles observe the tragic anniversary of their daughter’s death Friday, they deserve to know that we care about that loss too. We must do what we can to prevent another senseless and avoidable death.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) will also get a vote next week on Kate’s Law, which would impose a mandatory minimum sentence of five years for illegal immigrants who reenter the U.S. illegally.
“The reason I introduced Kate’s Law was because the Obama administration is failing to adequately deter illegal aliens who have already been deported from reentering the country illegally,” Cruz said in a statement. “The problem of illegal immigration in this country will never be solved until we demonstrate to the American people that we are serious about securing the border and enforcing our immigration laws.”
Both bills were offered in response to 32-year-old Steinle’s murder on July 1, 2015 in the sanctuary city of San Francisco. Steinle was shot on San Francisco’s Pier 14 by a five-time deported illegal immigrant from Mexico with a long rap sheet.
Her killer had been in police custody months earlier but was released after San Francisco authorities ignored an immigration detainer logged by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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