Starnes: ‘Sanctuary’ mayors have American blood on their hands

Todd Starnes,

In 2015 Kate Steinle was gunned down by an illegal alien in San Francisco - a sanctuary city. The man charged with her murder was a seven-time felon who had been deported five times.

Five times.

There was an immigration hold on the suspect, meaning the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement wanted to come get him and ship him out of the country. But San Francisco authorities set the man free. Just a few months later, Steinle was dead.

Steinle’s blood is not only on the hands of her killer, it’s also on the hands of San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee.

It’s beyond belief that liberal mayors are allowing illegal aliens to run wild in the streets of American cities, terrorizing law-abiding citizens.

So Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ vow to punish sanctuary cities is welcome news. On Monday he announced plans to withhold from any city that harbors illegals billions in federal funding.

“Not only do these policies endanger lives of every American, just last May, the Department of Justice inspector general found that these policies also violate federal law,” Sessions said. “The president has rightly said disregard for law must end.”

I believe the Trump Administration should go a step further. If an illegal commits a felony crime in a sanctuary city - the mayor of that city should also face criminal charges – from harboring fugitives to aiding and abetting.

San Francisco’s Lee defiantly declared Monday on Twitter that “#SanctuaryCities are safer, more productive, healthier places to live.”

Tell that to Kate Steinle’s family.

The attorney general rightly said that failing to report illegal immigrants who are “convicted of criminal offenses put whole communities at risk, especially immigrant communities in the very sanctuary jurisdictions that seek to protect the perpetrators.”

Countless Americans would be alive today if sanctuary cities were shut down. Kate Steinle would be alive today.