Sacramento Mayor Signals his Virtue, Joins Lawsuit Against Trump Admin over Sanctuary Cities Crackdown

The City of Sacramento announced Tuesday that in its infinite wisdom, it has joined the lawsuit against the Trump administration over its crackdown on sanctuary cities and states and threat to cut off federal funding.

The City of Sacramento claims that President Donald Trump’s threat to withhold federal funds to Sanctuary cities “violates the Constitution by taking harmful actions against sanctuary city jurisdictions.”

They ignore that the very existence of sanctuary cities violates federal law. “The sanctuary policies implemented by cities such as San Francisco and Seattle also seek to nullify federal immigration law and obstruct its enforcement. 8 U.S.C. §1373 prohibits states and local jurisdictions from preventing their law enforcement officials from exchanging information with federal officials on the citizenship status of individuals they have arrested or detained. The Supreme Court upheld this provision in 2012 in Arizona v. United States,” Hans von Spakovsky explains at the Heritage Foundation.

“For forty years, our city has been a safe haven for refugees fleeing hardship and persecution. It is the moral tradition of our nation and our city to protect immigrants and refugees. Sacramento will uphold this legacy,” said Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty conflating refugees and immigrants with illegal aliens.

Mayor McCarty may want to reflect on his “moral tradition” when by allowing untraceable illegal aliens into Sanctuary Sacramento, he puts all citizens in harms way because we don’t know who is a violent criminal or not. But we do know they violated United States immigration law by illegally crossing the border.

Sacramento’s Mayor Pro Tem isn’t much better:

“Since 1985, Sacramento has been a self-designated sanctuary city, and I’m proud those same values of compassion, respect, and human dignity are reflected today, 40 years later,” said Mayor Pro Tem Eric Guerra. “Our City’s history is built on immigrants and refugees, who are seamlessly intertwined within our community. We will continue to support our workers, prioritizing a strong local economy, and respecting all our neighbors. Sacramento will not turn its back; we will continue protecting our community.”

No, Sacramento’s history is not “built on immigrants and refugees,” but by legal citizens, some of who worked very hard to come here legally.

In making this errant statement, Guerra makes clear his disdain for the legal citizens and taxpayers of Sacramento, as he is prioritizing and offering protection to those here illegally.

In early February, Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered the defunding of sanctuary cities receiving federal funds that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, the New York Post reported.

“'[T]he Department of Justice will ensure that, consistent with law, ‘sanctuary jurisdictions’ do not receive access to Federal funds from the Department,’ Bondi’s first-day memo says.”

“Consistent with applicable statutes, regulations, court orders, and terms, the Department of Justice shall pause the distribution of all funds until a review has been completed, terminate any agreements that are in violation of law or are the source of waste, fraud, or abuse, and initiate clawback or recoupment procedures, where appropriate.”

California still is home to the largest illegal-alien population in the country, initially with 35 sanctuary cities, morphing into full state sanctuary, courtesy of California’s Democrat lawmakers.

In 2017, California became a sanctuary state when opportunistic California Democrats authored bills to counter the immigration executive orders to protect Americans, of then-President Donald J. Trump – in violation of Trump’s constitutional authority.

Then-Senate President Pro Tem Kevin De León (D-Los Angeles), the author of Senate Bill 54, claimed that “immigrants are valuable and essential members of the California community” and all attempts to enforce immigration laws create fear of the police among “immigrant community members” who fear “approaching police when they are victims of, and witnesses to, crimes.” De León deliberately conflated “immigrants” and “criminal illegal aliens” just as Democrat Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty does.

As I reported in 2017, Democrats and Governor Brown knew what they were ushering in:

SB 54 still does not address all criminal illegal aliens, whether they are “violent” or “serious” criminals. Apparently, de León is resisting including human traffickers, child abusers, kidnappers, and hostage takers in his bill. De León instead continues to falsely claim its “maids, laborers, baby sitters and landscapers” who are being targeted in ICE sweeps… Except that ICE does not do sweeps–ICE agents work in jails targeting only criminal illegal aliens. De León’s bill would force immigration officials to reinstitute sweeps since they would no longer be allowed in jails and prisons, where the criminals are located. Despite the wave of refugees allowed in the United States from Syria and Iraq under the Obama administration, California Democrats continue to deny national security issues in favor of political opportunism.

SB 54 passed the California Legislature entirely along party lines, Gov. Jerry Brown signed it into law, and turned California into a sanctuary state.

Also in 2017 “the Sacramento City Council passed a resolution reaffirming the City’s status as a sanctuary city, directing and preventing Sacramento officials from expending scarce local resources on federal civil immigration enforcement efforts to the detriment of Sacramento’s core mission of ensuring public health, safety, and welfare for all those that live, work, and visit Sacramento,” the City of Sacramento says.

“The Trump Administration’s threat of withholding federal funds impacts the City’s budget at a time when it is already working on balancing major deficits. The City is already receiving notice that these federal grants are likely to be withheld.”

At least city officials acknowledge that the loss of federal funds would be devastating to their $62 million budget deficit – another $175 million worth. “Sacramento currently is expecting approximately $175 million in outstanding federal reimbursements that support Public Works, public safety, and medical services.”

Ouch. That’s gonna sting.

As Hans von Spakovsky iterates, “While there are many areas over which the states and the federal government share responsibility, immigration is not one of them.”

Here’s to hoping that Attorney General Pam Bondi sends a strongly worded letter to Mayor Kevin McCarty and Mayor Pro Tem Eric Guerra.