Sanctuary cities not a real problem... Or are they?

My San Antonio Blog site titled Sanctuary cities not a real problem, where the author attempts to persuade the reader to take the opinion that our Lt. Governor is wrong to make sanctuary cities a priority for a plethora of reasons which I will dispute. Immigration is passed off as a non issue and one of little importance; one hot button issue to divisive to even touch. Because the Author does not offer any alternative view points I believe this author is appealing to an audience that is probably more like minded on the issues surrounding immigration.

The author asks the reader to “Consider: Texas gave Trump a win in the state by a margin that is historically low for Republican presidential candidates. His rhetoric on immigration is arguably why his margin was at that historic low.” I completely disagree with his assessment on why Trump won by a small margin in Texas. To say that Trump is not as popular in Texas as past presidents and therefore neither are his policies on immigration is illogical. Considering Ted Cruz won the state in the primaries, and his stance on immigration was just as strong as Trumps if not more, I very much doubt that Trumps rhetoric on immigration is what turned voters away at the polls. If the Author is suggesting that the majority of Texans are ok with having sanctuary cities and illegal immigration, I would say that is false. If that was the case Ted Cruz would not have won in the primary. Many conservatives didn’t vote for Trump because he was not conservative enough. Cruz supporters in particular had some beef with Trump and were part of the “never Trump” crowd, which could explain why his margin was lower.

The author makes the point that the bill, “would compel jails to cooperate with immigration authorities” But then positively states Texas jails are already “releasing flagged inmates who are undocumented to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.” So if Texas jails are already adhering to immigration law, what is the problem? They should not have to worry about their funding being taken away. Right? It seems strange for the author to make a point that Texas already upholds immigration laws when further down the page they mention “Sally Hernandez, who won the race for Travis County sheriff, pledged during her campaign that she would kick ICE out of that county’s jail.” Also the very Blue city of Austin is mentioned as another “who would defy federal immigration laws.” So which is it? You can’t have it both ways. Texas is either enforcing the laws or not. Both can’t be cited favorably because they completely contradict each other.

The author casually notes the fact that if “ICE doesn’t pick up the criminal within 24 hours then they simply release the inmate;” which raises some red flags to say the least. I hope ICE officers get there in time before they release a rapist or murderer back out into the population. The author falsely states that “this is the right thing to do because constitutionally you cannot detain someone who faces no charges.” That would be true if we were talking about a citizen of this country but our laws do not pertain to noncitizens. The people in custody who have been flagged by ICE and requested to be turned over are most certainly facing charges or have already committed crimes; starting with the crime of entering the country illegally.

The author suggests that “this bill will lead to profiling and fear of the police; that this will lead to crimes going unsolved and criminals going free.” If this person is so concerned about criminals going free then why is this a non issue?  I do agree that if we started enforcing immigration law, illegal immigrants would become more fearful. They broke into the United States and evaded the countries legal system. I imagine that had I done the same entering into another country I would be looking over my shoulder too. I agree with the author that this bill would instill fear and perhaps contribute to less crimes being reported, but ignoring a problem does not make that problem go away. By allowing sanctuary cities and ignoring our immigration laws we continue to prop up pockets within our society where we cannot keep law and order. This problem is only going to get worse the longer law enforcement ignores immigration laws, making us all less safe.  If safety is a concern to this author or their readers, I suggest looking at the cost to ignoring the illegal population and not making this a priority for our state as well as our nation. I do believe that the cost of the crimes being committed far out way the costs of illegals feeling fearful.

“According to DPS (Texas Department of Public Safety), criminal history records,(from 2011-2017) criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 257,000 convictions including 476 homicide convictions; 25,519 assault convictions; 8,143 burglary convictions; 33,643 drug convictions; 235 kidnapping convictions; 18,332 theft convictions; 21,910 obstructing police convictions; 1,906 robbery convictions; 2,764 sexual assault convictions; and 3,589 weapons convictions. Of the convictions associated with criminal alien arrests, over 170,000 or 66% are associated with aliens who were identified by DHS status as being in the US illegally at the time of their last arrest.

Note: These are Texas charges for these criminal alien arrestees as reported to DPS by local agencies – the arrestees charted here may have offenses in other states. Texas arrestees who have not had interaction with the DHS which resulted in the collection of fingerprints are not included as their identity cannot be biometrically verified by DHS.”