Originally published July 9 2015
Are 'Sanctuary City' officials complicit in the murder of citizens by illegals who commit violence?
by J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) Critics of the federal government's immigration policies and, in particular, the lax enforcement of immigration law that has been commonplace during the Bush and Obama Administrations, have a new weapon, so to speak, in their arsenal.
According to The Washington Post, the gun used by 45-year-old Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, the illegal immigrant multiple felon who shot and killed 32-year-old Kate Steinle in San Francisco last week, once belonged to a federal agent.
The paper reported that the weapon belonged to an agent of the Bureau of Land Management, though agency officials there would not immediately confirm as much. During interviews with police, Sanchez claimed he found the weapon wrapped in a t-shirt.
The shooting has once again brought to the fore so-called "sanctuary cities" in the United States – cities where local officials have implemented policies preventing police departments from reporting to federal immigration officials when they have suspected illegal aliens in custody.
Uncle Sam is in this up to his neck
Sanchez, earlier reports said, had actually been in custody in San Francisco in March, but was turned loose, in compliance with sanctuary policies. San Francisco – indeed, a number of cities in California, the state with the highest illegal immigrant population – does not routinely cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
For his part, Sanchez had a long felony history and had been deported back to his native Mexico five times. Federal law requires that illegal immigrants convicted of felonies serve time in American prisons. Also, the Obama Justice Department has the authority to require all American cities to dump their sanctuary city policies and cooperate fully with federal immigration authorities – but the president has not ordered the department to do so, and in fact, his own executive amnesty policies have contributed to the influx of illegal aliens.
The Post noted that the weapon used to kill Steinle was a .40 caliber pistol, a common caliber used by government agencies and police departments around the country, according to a law enforcement official. One bullet had been fired from the gun.
The Post also reported:
Dana Wilson, a spokeswoman with BLM, said the agent was en route to an official travel assignment when the agency-issued weapon was stolen from his vehicle. The theft was reported to the San Francisco Police Department.
San Francisco is a "sanctuary city" that generally does not voluntarily cooperate or communicate with immigration officials on matters of enforcement.
The federal government is even more liable in the Steinle death. Sanchez had been in federal custody for once again illegally entering the country but was released to San Francisco authorities on drug charges that were eventually dropped. Then again, immigration officials had requested that San Francisco authorities notify them before Sanchez was released; they failed to do so.
Blood on their hands
Sanchez's attorney, Matt Gonzales, a public defender, tried to excuse the killing by claiming that the gun accidentally went off, his client did not know anyone had been shot, and anyway, he didn't even know Steinle, so he really had no motive to kill her.
"This very well could be a completely accidental discharge of a firearm," he said, according to the Post. "You've got an individual who does not know the victim in the case, has no interest or desire in injuring her in any way, and no witness or anybody to allege that there was any crime going on at the time the shooting occurred."
All of that may be true, but it whitewashes the fact that Sanchez should not have been a free man in the first place, let alone in the country – and that sanctuary policies contribute to an outsized presence of people in the country illegally because they know they won't be prosecuted solely for that purpose.
Uncle Sam has blood on his hands over this one – and so do San Francisco city officials who have implemented, and are still supporting, their sanctuary city policy.
Sources:
http://www.washingtonpost.com
http://townhall.com
http://www.truthrevolt.org
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