The House Rules Committee has scheduled a hearing for Rep. Duncan Hunter's (R-Calif.) sanctuary cities bill, H.R.3009, for Wednesday afternoon. NumbersUSA has sent a notice to all House Members, telling them that we will oppose the Hunter legislation. Here's what was sent to House offices.
While we appreciate the intent behind the Hunter sanctuary bill (H.R. 3009), NumbersUSA has no choice but to oppose it. The Hunter language is actually weaker than the language that the House adopted--by a vote of 227-198--as an amendment to the Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Act, offered by Rep. Steve King. It is unconscionable that the House would respond to the tragic murder of Kate Steinle by moving legislation that is weaker than the language it adopted less than two months ago to defund sanctuary jurisdictions.
The bigger problem, however, is that the Hunter bill does not in any way address the largest sanctuary jurisdiction of all: the Federal government. Sanctuary states, cities, and counties release thousands of convicted criminal aliens each year, but the Department of Homeland Security releases tens of thousands of convicted criminal aliens each year. Grant Ronnebeck, murdered by a convicted criminal alien in an Arizona convenience store, is no less a victim of sanctuary policies than Kate Steinle just because his killer was released by the Department of Homeland Security.
NumbersUSA completely agrees that Congress needs to act now to stop sanctuary policies, but it needs to address all of them. Releasing convicted criminal aliens into our communities is dangerous and wrong, regardless of which government entity is doing the releasing.
