DHS: Sanctuary Cities Harboring Dangerous Criminals

The Department of Homeland Security released its latest version of the “Declined Detainer Outcome Report” on Friday, which covers the time period of February 4-10. In it, many of the arguments people make for sanctuary cities are shattered – especially the one where these cities are only shielding low-level, nonviolent offenders from deportation.

The report shows that many of the criminals who have been released by sanctuary city police are guilty of major violent crimes including battery and sexual assault. ICE sent 2,825 detainer requests in the time period covered and 47 of those were declined. Cities in New York and California were responsible for most of the refusals, but they also came from Virginia, Massachusetts, Florida, Texas, D.C., and Minnesota.

The DHS report also listed cities that have taken an adversarial stance against the administration, newly-designating themselves sanctuaries since the first of the year. Those cities include Baltimore; Boulder, Colorado; Ithaca, NY; and others.

This weekly report has come under predictable criticism from the left, but it may be the single most effective tool President Trump has at his disposal. By naming and shaming these cities on a weekly basis, he doesn’t have to win a legal argument in court. He doesn’t have to send a deportation force into California. He can just wait for the public outrage to build and the pressure to grow too great for these cities to bear. Then the rest will fall into place.

But that’s just looking at it from a political point of view. From a neutral, patriotic point of view, these reports are even more important. The fact is, innocent people are being victimized and even murdered because of these sanctuary policies. And there is no real evidence to support the contention that these policies improve community relations between illegal immigrants and police. These are partisan policies that are putting people’s lives in danger and they need to be shamed out of existence.