No Taxpayer Dollars for Sanctuary Cities, States, or Federal Agencies

By Ronald W. Mortensen on May 13, 2011

Rep. Lou Barletta is drafting legislation that would withhold taxpayer funds from sanctuary cities. This is a good start but it would be even better to go after sanctuary states and sanctuary federal agencies as well. (See here for a list of sanctuary jurisdictions subsidized by Justice Department funds.)

At the city level, Barletta needs to target the likes of Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank who says that he has to give immunity to illegal aliens who are only committing Social Security fraud and identity theft (both felonies) because his is a city "that cares for the civil rights of all individuals and protects those rights."

Chief Burbank also apparently agreed to give into illegal-alien blackmail and to sacrifice the 50,000 Utah kids who are victims of illegal alien identity theft in return for a promise that illegal aliens will play nice with him.

Rep. Barletta also needs to penalize sanctuary states such as Utah, where the legislature passed, and the governor signed, a bill that will grant sanctuary to every illegal alien residing in the state.

In addition, Utah's chief law enforcement officer, Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, refuses to prosecute illegal alien job-related felonies and even told a large public audience that child identity theft committed by illegal aliens is not that big of a deal.

At the federal level, Congress has failed to hold illegal aliens or their employers accountable for rampant document fraud, misuse of Social Security numbers, perjury on I-9 forms, and identity theft.

Congress has also enacted legislation that requires employers to follow a don't ask, don't tell I-9 system which actually encourages employers to accept phony documents and stolen identities used by illegal aliens.

Barletta also needs to hold the administration and federal agencies accountable for their refusal to enforce immigration laws and for granting a form of diplomatic immunity to illegal aliens.

So, while we applaud Rep. Barletta for his determination to hold sanctuary cities accountable, we should also encourage him to go after the sanctuary states and sanctuary federal government agencies that refuse to enforce and uphold existing immigration laws.