The effort to put pressure on sanctuary cities hopped back into the news cycle this week following remarks by Thomas Homan, the acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
We need to hold these politicians accountable for their actions,” Thomas Homan, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told Fox News. “This isn’t the America I grew up in. We got to take these sanctuary cities on. We got to take them to court. And we got to start charging some of these politicians with crimes.”
And yes, the Feds have that authority.
To borrow from former Federal Prosecutor Ken White,
Under the Supremacy Clause to the United States Constitution, the states can’t immunize people from federal prosecution — they can make things legal under state law, but can’t make things legal under federal law.
Ken was referring to Federal drug laws with regard to marijuana. Homan is referring to Immigration law. Which, if you remember your history, Book of Obama vs. the State of Arizona, is the job of the Federal government.
Harboring illegal immigrants violates several federal laws including human trafficking or smuggling.
So when the ass-hats in the Dallas News story, like,
The ACLU said Homan’s “outrageous threat” should disqualify him from leadership of the agency that enforces immigration law.
…they are showing their partisan ignorance. As the leader of ICE Homan has federal law and the US Constitution to back him.
Then there’s this idiot.
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo told the Houston Chronicle that the threat smacked of an attempt to trample on “states’ rights and local rights.”
I’m embarrassed for Chief Acevedo.
Then we’ve got Austin Mayor Steve Adler who,
“vowed to continue to “oppose anti-immigrant policies, regardless of the personal consequences… Threatening to jail political opponents, especially for laws they aren’t breaking, is not the America I grew up in.””
It’s easy to stand on a principle whose legal defense will be paid for with other people’s money. And the jibe about political opponents is cute, but at the end of the day, the law doesn’t care to what party you pander unless it’s IRS “law” and you are a conservative group trying to get non-profit status before an election that includes a candidate named Barack Obama.
And while the media is trying to muddy the waters over a definition of a sanctuary city, along with claims that liberal judges blocking Executive actions amount to something other than political gamesmanship, being in a foreign country without permission is illegal in every country in the world. Helping to move or hide them is also illegal.
As is obstructing the enforcement of federal law and a federal investigation.
I guess you could say I’m not as optimistic about the gray areas as the illegal immigration advocates. But, I’m also not expecting too many arrests of elected officials. They are, at their heart, worms who will crawl behind meaningless words, showboating, and political posturing.
What will happen is ICE will crank up enforcement exponentially anywhere that declares itself a sanctuary for illegal entrants. Doubly so if they get belligerent. The deported will share the message that those places are not safe. And anyone who gets in the way, elected, appointed, or other, can expect to get arrested along with the criminals, human traffickers, drug dealers, and gang members.
And liberals will whine, but they were going to do that anyway.
