NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana – The Crescent City is a “magnet” for illegal immigrants, said Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry who lambasted the City’s ‘sanctuary’ policies on Capitol Hill.
In front of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security, Landry criticized the policies of New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu (D) and the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD), which prohibit law enforcement from asking residents about their immigration status.
Landry rhetorically asked Committee members why being in the United States illegally was not a reason to deport an individual back to their native country.
“All that does is lead to those people committing additional crimes and thinking it’s okay to break the law,” Landry said, according to Fox News.
Landry, who has been fighting for a ban on sanctuary cities since he assumed office last year, told the Committee that New Orleans’ policies are increasing crime and driving up taxes.
“Los Angeles saw all crime rise in 2015: violent crime up 19.9 percent, homicides up 10.2 percent, shooting victims up 12.6 percent, rapes up 8.6 percent, robberies up 12.3 percent, and aggravated assault up 27.5 percent,” Landry told the committee, according to the Washington Examiner.
Specifically, Landry spoke about the recent death of 36-year-old St. John District Fire Chief Spencer Chauvin of Gramercy, Louisiana and two other victims who were killed after an illegal immigrant drove a bus into an ongoing, minor car crash, as Breitbart Texas reported.
Along with Chauvin, the illegal immigrant bus driver and Honduran national Denis Yasmir Amaya Rodriguez killed 33 year-old Vontarous Kelly and 21-year-old Jermaine Starr in the crash.
Rodriguez, who was driving the bus full of illegal immigrant workers, was headed to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to find low-skilled work in the aftermath of the region’s devastating flood which destroyed more than 60,000 homes.
The company which reportedly hired the illegal workers, WRS, is owned by local Louisiana Constable Eddie Schmidt, as well as David Wallace, a state legislator in Arkansas, as Breitbart Texas reported at the time.
Landry said the case was just one example where illegal immigrants have taken advantage of sanctuary city policies, making it even harder to deport illegal immigrants convicted of crimes.
The use of foreign illegal immigrant workers is not a common trend in the state.
Similar the state’s current flooding disaster, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 brought out a slew of foreign nationals who were hired illegally by contractors and home-repair companies to do the work gutting and rebuilding properties.
Landry pushed for statewide ban on sanctuary cities earlier this year. Despite being widely supported by residents in the state, the legislation was blocked by state Democrats who gutted the bill in order to render it ineffective.
Before the committee hearing, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) echoed Landry’s concerns with New Orleans’ status as a sanctuary city, calling the policies “outrageous” on his Facebook page.
“By hindering federal immigration officers’ ability to apprehend criminal aliens, the Justice Department consciously disregards the safety and security of the American public by enabling the release of these criminals back into our communities to commit more crimes,” Gowdy wrote.
John Binder is a contributor for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
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