Fire Chief Spencer Chauvin of St. Landry Parish was doing his job, working a minor traffic accident in Louisiana’s hottest month of August when he was killed by an illegal immigrant.
While Chauvin was helping drivers with a fender-bender, Denis Yasmir Amaya Rodriguez, a 33-year-old illegal immigrant from Mexico, crashed into the small wreck, killing Chauvin and two other drivers.
Rodriguez was not the only illegal immigrant aboard the large bus, as it was filled with illegal immigrant workers who were on their way to do odd-jobs in the flooded region of Baton Rouge.
Soon after, Louisiana conservative Attorney General Jeff Landry denounced the tragedy as evidence of how dangerous sanctuary city policies in New Orleans, Louisiana can be. Rodriguez was living in a smaller city just outside New Orleans.
The fight to end sanctuary city policies in the state was taken up by Landry this year with the help of Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, an immigration policy guru and lightning rod on the issue.
Though state Senate Democrats gutted the sanctuary city legislation, Landry’s office told Breitbart Texas months ago the fight was not over.
Today, that battle is not just being had in Louisiana, but in Washington, D.C. where President-Elect Donald Trump has promised to defund cities with sanctuary city policies, with the help of Kobach.
Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) has been pushing anti-sanctuary city legislation as far back as 2007, before the issue ever seen major national coverage, but has been blocked every step of the way.
“During my decade-long fight to end sanctuary city policies, Senate Democrats and over 300 cities across the nation have foregone the safety of American families and communities in order to coddle and protect the 170,000 convicted criminal aliens who remain at-large in the US,” Vitter said in a statement.
“Until we end all dangerous and illegal sanctuary city policies – which I am confident will happen sooner than later – the obvious first step is to withhold federal funding from those cities refusing to comply with federal immigration laws,” Vitter continued.
Indeed, Vitter’s fight against sanctuary cities will be coming in the new year when a Trump Administration is expected to not only defund cities that protect criminal illegal immigrants, but increase border security and lower the number of legal immigrants entering the country as well.
Thanks to the immigration issue being at the center of Trump’s campaign, Vitter’s previously Democrat-blocked legislation is gaining traction.
In a Los Angeles Times piece, Vitter’s proposals are explained as stopping “law enforcement funding and community development grants to states and cities that don’t hold immigrants for federal immigration officials.”
Additionally, that same proposal by Vitter would mandate a five to 10 year minimum prison sentence for any illegal immigrant who re-enters the country and is convicted of a felony or a drug-related misdemeanor.
The Washington Post also characterized Vitter’s plan as one that is keeping Democrat-controlled sanctuary cities on their toes.
New Orleans, for instance, has reiterated to Breitbart Texas that it does not plan on letting up on its policies that allow federal cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but limits officers in other ways, such as inquiring about an individuals’ immigration status or aiding ICE in a local operation.
John Binder is a contributor for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
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