On July 1, 2015, Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez shot and killed 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle in San Francisco. To say Kathryn Steinle was an innocent victim of a random crime would be a lie. The simple fact is Steinle died because too many Democrats value their perceived voting base more than the lives of law-abiding Americans.
Lopez-Sanchez was a criminal alien who had been deported five times in the past decade. According to National Crime Information Center, Lopez-Sanchez has at least 40 criminal entries in the NCIC system. Lopez-Sanchez broke into this country with ease and did pretty much whatever he wanted. Arrested in Arizona, Texas, Washington (state), Oregon and California, he waltzed back into the United States of America with impunity, contrary to President Obama’s assessment that “U.S.-Mexican border is more secure today than it has been in years.” Apparently, Lopez-Sanchez didn’t get Obama’s memo.
Lopez-Sanchez had been released by the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department, even though the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had asked the sheriff of San Francisco, Ross Mirkarimi, to notify it before releasing him. But in the absence of a court order, the request was not honored. Steinle is dead as a result.
San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee is pointing the finger at Mirkarimi. Mirkarimi is pointing the finger at the sanctuary city policy approved by Lee and the San Francisco City Council. You see, that is what failed leaders of poorly conceived policies do, blame someone else. The concept of sanctuary cities is simple. Sanctuary cities are municipalities that allow illegal immigrants to reside within their borders with the understanding that the local government will not seek to determine immigration status or enforce the federal mandates concerning immigration.
Democrats such as Rep. Xavier Becerra would have us believe “someone (just) dropped the ball.” Dropping the ball is what politicians use when they want to deflect blame away from their own failings. Dropping the ball suggests a failure in a legal process, a system with checks and balances. A sanctuary city is a violation to federal statues, and is a hodgepodge of different interpretations depending on which sanctuary city you are in. There are no checks and balances. It is a system designed to be the failure it has proven to be. Want to make sure the “ball” doesn’t get dropped again? Enforce immigration laws currently on the books.
It is not like San Francisco hasn’t seen this tragedy before. In 2008, criminal alien Edwin Ramos, a member of the brutal gang MS-13 (of which many benefit from the sanctuary city policies), slaughtered an entire family on the streets of San Francisco. Ramos gunned down Tony Bologna, and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16. The San Francisco Sheriff’s Department arrested and jailed Ramos on suspicion of gun possession in 2008, just before the Bologna murders. Ramos was not charged, but according to ICE he could have been deported. According to Rep. Becerra, I guess the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department “dropped the ball” in the Ramos case as well. Four innocent lives lost (just in these two cases – there are many more), and people like Becerra would have us believe it was merely the result of a clerical error.
Lopez-Sanchez was shown compassion not because he deserved it, but because he fit a misguided agenda that serves only to circumvent our immigration laws. He was the benefactor of a political agenda by some in this country to ignore our immigration laws, who then falsely claim our immigration policies are a failure. The only failure is that our elected officials hide behind words such as compassion and undocumented worker, while people such as Kathryn Steinle, Tony, Michael, and Matthew Bologna pay the price. These same elected officials ignore words such as murder, rape and assault, because these types of crimes are committed all too often by criminal aliens that benefit from the security blanket provided by sanctuary cities.
Supporters of sanctuary policies, like Democrats Sen. Barbara Boxer, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi are now stating this crime should not have happened, yet continue to support the sanctuary city policy. At least 350 jurisdictions have declared their cities to be sanctuary cities, offering limited or no deportation cooperation. More than 10,500 ICE detainer requests have been declined in California alone, according to ICE.
The issue of sanctuary cities was debated during the Gang of 8 Immigration Bill. A commonsense amendment was proposed that would have prevented federal funds from being sent to sanctuary cities. Led by Sen. Feinstein, the amendment was tabled. Almost all Democrats, and approximately a quarter of Republicans in office at the time agreed to remove the amendment from consideration in a 58-40 vote. The precedent was set by the very people who now are calling for an “investigation” on what went wrong in San Francisco.
There is no more glaring example of a failed policy than that of sanctuary cities. It is nothing more than an attempt by some on the left to feel good about themselves, believing they are advancing anything other than a political agenda guided more by political correctness than commonsense. The truly sad part is that supporters see the victims directly related to the sanctuary city policy as nothing more than collateral damage.
The truth is Kathryn Steinle would be alive today if not for the sanctuary city policy. Not one more American life should be lost in the name of this misguided compassion. It is about time we care more about law-abiding citizens than the criminal elements that prey on us.
