Rep. Dent Says Sanctuary Cities Must Follow the Law..

On July 23rd, 2015 Representive Charlie Dent issued a press release in which he said, “Sanctuary Cities Must Follow the Law or Face Consequences”-- "Votes for House Bill to Hold Municipalities Accountable for Failing to Follow Federal Law... “There are nearly 300 municipalities or jurisdictions across the country that have decided to pick and choose what federal immigration laws to obey."

I'm sure many may agree with the program. However there's a few other things that need to be considered. Some of the so-called sanctuary cities have become one for practical reasons. Not necessarily that they all disagree with federal government or are in opposition to ICE, but rather because it places undo financial hardships on them.

According to a May 13th, 2014 article in 'The Atlantic'-- "Every day, ICE sends local jails across the country thousands of “detainers,” which are requests to hold people after they’ve bailed out, been acquitted, or served their sentences, to give ICE time to pick them up."

The problem is sometimes ICE doesn't "pick them up" for months. Guess who foots the bill for these folks who already served out their sentences?

"Holding people in jail is expensive, and the federal government asks many jails to hold thousands of people per year without reimbursement. Localities have also faced lawsuits that create serious financial liability when ICE makes the mistake of issuing an immigration hold against a U.S. citizen.. When Santa Clara County, California, asked ICE in 2009 for reimbursement and indemnification, ICE turned a cold shoulder. This sort of behavior has not made the agency many friends in local governments, even as they have complied with its requests out of fear of repercussion."

So Here We Go Again!

Congress passes a law the federal government isn't willing to fully fund. Instead local taxpayers get stuck with the bill while we sit around waiting for ICE to come pick these people up after they already completed their sentences.

Money that could otherwise be used to hire police, fund locals jails and rehab programs for people who have yet to serve time.



Recent court decisions have allowed many of those being held to file lawsuits and legal appeals against the cities. Sometimes these federally issued detainers are so broad they are issued with little legal merit for them. Should cities be on the hook for this too?

Knowing this it should come as no great surprise why there is an ever growing list of so-called sanctuary cities.

While representative Dent's intentions may be good he surely must be aware by voting for this bill it will force our local cities and towns taxpayers to bare the burden for these costs. Something Congress is unwilling to do apparently. Good legislation requires proper funding. Something I don't see in this piece of legislation. Only the threatened "consequences" for not picking up the costs locally for the feds.


H.R. 3009 (as of 07/24/2015)
Introduced: Jul 9, 2015
Status: Passed House on Jul 23, 2015
This bill now goes to the Senate next for consideration.
Track H.R. 3009 HERE