Sanctuary City: Now Endorsed by 17,945 Law Enforcement Agencies Nationwide
By Benjamin Wachs
Despite Gavin Newsom's recent flipping (or is it flopping? Or swaying to-and-fro?) on the issue of exactly how San Francisco's "Sanctuary City" policy will be enforced in the case of felons, the overall concept of Sanctuary City has gotten a big endorsement:
Some 18,000 law-enforcement agencies nationwide have implicitly declared themselves in favor of Sanctuary City policies by refusing to coordinate with U.S. Immigration and Customs.
In fact, only 55 law enforcement agencies, in the whole country, have signed on the fed's dotted line, according to the Washington Post.
Why? For exactly the reasons SF's policy is in place. Says the Post:
Although they face public and political pressure to crack down on illegal immigrants, officials say such efforts can backfire by making immigrants reluctant to report crimes, exposing departments to lawsuits, and putting local police officers in confusing and dangerous situations that can lead to mistakes and abuse.
This doesn't mean that these jurisdictions are going quite so far as to not turn over juvenile illegal immigrants convicted of crimes - as is the San Francisco policy now being debated. But it's still a big -if quiet- statement of fact: pretty much every police agency, everywhere, sees checking immigration status as contrary to effective law enforcement.
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