WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) released the following statement after U.S. District Judge William Orrick of San Francisco issued injunctions against President Trump’s executive order aimed at withholding federal funds from “sanctuary cities” that do not cooperate with U.S. immigration authorities:
Today, U.S. Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) released the following statement after U.S. District Judge William Orrick of San Francisco issued injunctions against President Trump’s executive order aimed at withholding federal funds from “sanctuary cities” that do not cooperate with U.S. immigration authorities:
“Previous judges have repeatedly validated the Constitutional power granting the executive branch broad and exclusive jurisdiction to enforce immigration laws. Activist judges from far-left districts, including the Ninth Circuit, continue to blatantly choose partisan ideology over upholding the Rule of Law. This shameful attempt to prioritize politics over protecting the safety of U.S. citizens is unconstitutional, unwise and un-American. I will continue working with my House colleagues to support President Trump’s Executive Order and defund sanctuary city policies that are proven to be deadly and put the security of our communities at risk.”
Background:
Earlier this month, Congressman Gosar joined his House colleagues Mo Brooks (AL-05), Steve King (IA-04) and Ken Buck (CO-04) in spearheading an appropriations language request to the House Appropriations Committee to prevent funds from going to “sanctuary cities” that prevent law enforcement officials from faithfully executing our immigration laws. Read more HERE.
This appropriations language request is also supported by the Federation for American Immigration Reform and NumbersUSA.
Sanctuary city policies, at their core, are a flagrant violation of the Rule of Law. A nation of laws must enforce established law, not seek ways to skirt enforcement. Sanctuary cities defy federal immigration laws by harboring untold numbers of illegal immigrants and providing safe havens for criminals, many of whom are violent offenders.
The House has voted and passed language that prohibits federal funds from going to sanctuary cities five different times in recent years.
Recent events in Maryland have highlighted this danger to our communities. Henry Sanchez-Milian, an 18-year-old illegal alien, has been charged with the first-degree rape of a 14-year-old girl in the bathroom of a Montgomery County High School, within a county that deliberately thwarts federal policy by refusing to work with federal immigration authorities to deport illegal immigrants. Despite having been apprehended in Texas by a U.S. Border Patrol agent and held for 12 days by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, Sanchez-Milian was arbitrarily released and put on a plane to be reunited with his father, who is also in the country illegally. Even though he had been ordered before an immigration court judge, after seven months, Sanchez-Milian’s hearing still had not taken place before this horrific event.
