{"id":33376,"date":"2017-06-30T05:29:53","date_gmt":"2017-06-30T05:29:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=33376"},"modified":"2017-06-30T05:29:53","modified_gmt":"2017-06-30T05:29:53","slug":"house-gop-backs-bills-to-crack-down-on-illegal-immigration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/house-gop-backs-bills-to-crack-down-on-illegal-immigration.html","title":{"rendered":"House GOP backs bills to crack down on illegal immigration"},"content":{"rendered":"

House GOP backs bills to crack down on illegal immigration<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Warning of threats to public safety and national security, the Republican-led House on Thursday approved two bills to crack down on illegal immigration, a key priority for President Donald Trump.<\/span><\/p>\n

One bill would strip federal dollars from self-proclaimed \u201csanctuary\u201d cities that shield residents from federal immigration authorities, while a separate measure would stiffen punishments for people who re-enter the U.S. illegally.<\/span><\/p>\n

The sanctuary measure was approved 228-195, while the bill to punish deportees was approved 257-167. Three Democrats joined all but seven Republicans to pass the sanctuary measure, while 24 Democrats backed the deportee bill. Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan was the only Republican who opposed the deportee bill.<\/span><\/p>\n

The bills now go to the Senate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump, who often railed against illegal immigration during his presidential campaign, hailed passage of the House bills and urged the Senate to act \u201csave American lives.\u201d Trump met at the White House this week with more than a dozen family members of those killed by people in the country illegally.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOpposing these bills, and allowing dangerous criminals back into our communities, our schools and the neighborhoods where our children play, puts all of us at risk,\u201d Trump said.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the bills, known as \u201cKate\u2019s Law,\u201d would impose harsher prison sentences on deportees who re-enter the United States. The bill is named after 32-year old Kathryn Steinle, who was shot and killed in San Francisco in 2015 by a man who was in the country illegally. Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, who pleaded not guilty to the crime, had been released by sheriff\u2019s officials months earlier despite a request by immigration officials to keep him behind bars.<\/span><\/p>\n

The second bill would bar states and localities that refuse to cooperate with immigration authorities from receiving certain Justice Department and Homeland Security grants, including some related to law enforcement and terrorism.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said the two bills would help \u201cavoid the kind of tragic circumstances that have totally involved the lives of the people who were at the White House … speaking up for their loved ones.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The sanctuary measure follows \u201ca simple principle that if you\u2019re going to receive taxpayer dollars from the federal government to keep people safe, that you\u2019ve got to follow the law and keep them safe,\u201d Goodlatte said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Democrats said the bills were feel-good measures intended to make lawmakers look tough on crime.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not doing bumper stickers here. We are doing laws,\u201d said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif.<\/span><\/p>\n

She and other Democrats said the sanctuary measure was \u201cabout telling people how to police their cities\u201d and telling local officials that \u201cwe in Washington, D.C., know better than you do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said he appreciates Congress\u2019 effort to \u201caddress the dangers of sanctuary cities and illegal immigrant offenders.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

At a news conference at the Capitol with House Speaker Paul Ryan, Kelly said his agency \u201cwill enforce the laws that are passed by Congress,\u201d adding, \u201cI am offended when members of this institution put pressure and often threaten me and my officers to ignore the laws they make.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A spokesman said later that Kelly \u201cwill continue to push back against any attempt \u2014 pressure, threat or otherwise \u2014 to ignore the enforcement of immigration law.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEnforcement is not selective, occasional or arbitrary, it\u2019s the law,\u201d spokesman David Lapan said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Justice Department\u2019s inspector general has identified California and major cities such as Chicago, New York and Philadelphia as locales with barriers to information-sharing among local police and immigration officials. The Trump administration warned nine jurisdictions in late April that they could lose coveted law enforcement grant money unless they document cooperation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who met with the families Thursday, said Steinle \u201cwould still be alive today if only the city of San Francisco had put the public\u2019s safety first. How many more Americans must die before we put an end to this madness?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., said \u201cKate\u2019s Law\u201d would not have had an impact on the Steinle case, noting that Steinle was killed in July 2015 by an immigrant who had been mistakenly released by the federal Bureau of Prisons.<\/span><\/p>\n

The proposed bill \u201cwould not have kept Kate Steinle\u2019s killer off the streets,\u201d Gutierrez said. \u201cInstead, we are voting on a bill to put other people \u2014 in different circumstances \u2014 in jail for longer periods of time. It is a bait-and-switch strategy: Use a horrible tragedy to sell a policy that would not have prevented that death, so that you put more immigrants in jail for longer periods of time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/congress\/house-gop-backs-bills-to-crack-down-on-illegal-immigration\/2017\/06\/29\/5bdd0420-5d39-11e7-aa69-3964a7d55207_story.html?utm_term=.b17cdf0e94af<\/span><\/p>\n

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