In the wake of the murder of Kate Steinle by a five-times-deported illegal-alien felon, news organizations worthy of the name would be all over the Democratic candidates asking if they regret their past, repeated, emphatic support for sanctuary cities. After all, every Republican was asked about the Confederate battle flag, which had nothing whatever to do with the Charleston murders. And yet San Francisco’s refusal to turn over illegal aliens for the feds until they’ve been convicted of violent felonies (and the Obama administration’s support for, and even promotion of such policies) is the only reason this poor woman was killed.
Heck, even the Republicans haven’t jumped on this — other than Trump, whose widely mocked warnings of this very danger have been vindicated. This was the perfect opportunity for Walker or Rubio or Cruz (¡Jeb! is hopeless, of course) to steal some of Trump’s thunder by offering a sober but scathing critique of the Obama-Clinton policy of dismantling our immigration-enforcement infrastructure — but so far it’s crickets. And this despite the fact that deporting illegal-alien criminals is probably a 95 percent issue among Republican primary voters and a 75 percent issue among voters in general. This incident simply reinforces the Evil Party/Stupid Party narrative.
Just last month, the Senate Judiciary Committee received a report that in just four years, 121 illegal aliens who had been released by ICE went on to murder Americans. This spring, the new director of ICE actually asked Congress for legislation cracking down on sanctuary cities, but within hours was forced by the White House to recant.
This isn’t even the first time this has happened in San Francisco; in 2008, a gang member who was shielded by the city’s sanctuary policies murdered an American father and his two sons. Near Sacramento last year, a previously deported illegal alien who had repeatedly come in contact with police murdered two sheriff’s deputies. (At least in this instance, Republicans in Congress have responded with immigration-enforcement legislation, though it hasn’t yet been passed by either house.) Also in 2008, high school football star Jamiel Shaw was murdered by a DREAMer a day after Los Angeles released the illegal alien (rather than turning him over to ICE) after serving four months for assault with a deadly weapon and battery on a police officer. The Remembrance Project documents those murdered by illegal aliens.
These outrages underline the reason “comprehensive immigration reform” has repeatedly failed, despite massive amounts of money and despite backing by all the commanding heights of the economy and society: No one believes supporters of amnesty and increased immigration will enforce tomorrow’s laws any better than they do today’s. Kate Steinle’s pointless, tragic death is yet more evidence of our rulers’ utter indifference to immigration law.
