Sanctuary cities and states are violating federal law and the constitution by trying to hide migrants from federal enforcement, Attorney General William Barr told sheriffs in Washington D.C.
“Let us state the reality upfront and as clearly as possible,” he told the National Sheriffs’ Association meeting in D.C. on February 10:
When we are talking about sanctuary cities, we are talking about policies that are designed to allow criminal aliens to escape. These policies are not about people who came to our country illegally but have otherwise been peaceful and productive members of society. Their express purpose is to shelter aliens whom local law enforcement has already arrested for other crimes. This is neither lawful nor sensible.
It is not lawful because the Constitution vests the federal government with the sole authority to make and enforce immigration law.
Sanctuary states are also directing that foreign migrants be given shorter jail sentences than Americans so the migrants do not get deported, Barr warned:
… we are meticulously reviewing the actions of certain district attorneys who have adopted policies of charging foreign nationals with lesser offenses for the express purpose of avoiding the federal immigration consequences of those nationals’ criminal conduct. In pursuing their personal ambitions and misguided notions of equal justice, these district attorneys are systematically violating the rule of law and may even be unlawfully discriminating against American citizens.
The justice department is already taking action against governments in New York, Washington State, California, New Jersey, and other sanctuary jurisdictions, he said. But “politicians in sanctuary jurisdictions have become even more aggressive in their attempts to interfere with federal immigration law,” he said, adding:
King County, Washington — the County that includes Seattle — will no longer allow DHS to use the King County International Airport to deport aliens who have been ordered to leave the United States.
The State of California, in an attempt to forbid the detention of aliens anywhere in its territory, recently enacted a law that prohibits the operation of private detention facilities – a blatant attempt by the State to prohibit DHS from detaining aliens, and to interfere with the ability of the Bureau of Prisons and the U.S. Marshals Service to manage federal detainees and prisoners.
The State of New York recently enacted laws that seek to restrict DHS from accessing certain information about individuals who have applied for drivers’ licenses.
The New York City Human Rights Commission has recently issued enforcement guidance stating that the “use of certain language, including ‘illegal alien’ and ‘illegals,’ with the intent to demean, humiliate, or offend a person or persons constitutes discrimination.”
Barr’s response comes as Democratic and GOP politicians nationwide step up their efforts to protect illegal migrants because they aid donors and local businesses by serving as consumers, renters, and wage-lowering workers.
In Florida, the GOP is trying to derail Gov. Ron DeSantis’ effort to require all employers to use the E-Verify system to exclude illegal immigrants from jobs. The reform is strongly opposed by businesses in the construction and agriculture sectors.
In Utah, the GOP-run legislature and the Governor approved a law that trims prison sentences by a day to help shield illegals from federal deportation. Utah’s HB 244 law was backed by the ACLU, and it boosts efforts by the GOP establishment to expand Utah’s real-estate values and job totals with an inflow of legal refugees and visa workers:
However, Barr’s assertive opposition to sanctuary cities does not include action to curb the widespread discrimination against Americans graduates made possible by the H-1B visas and the U.S.-India Outsourcing Economy.
Americans’ resumes rarely reach hiring managers in Silicon Valley firms because Indian hiring managers push fellow Indians to the head of the line, said an American engineer in Silicon Valley. “If you look around the Valley, everyone in H.R. is Indian … It just amazes me how obvious this is — it is just right out in the open,” he said. “If you say anything about it, they shut you down … so you can’t really talk about it.”