From 9/11 Commission hearings:
LEHMAN: "Were you aware that it was the US government established policy not to question or oppose the sanctuary policies of New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, San Diego for political reasons, which policy in those cities prohibited the local police from cooperating at all with federal immigration authorities?"
CONDOLEEZA RICE: "I do not believe I was aware of that."
Sanctuary Cities: What are they?
Despite a federal law that requires local governments to cooperate with Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency, many large urban cities (and some small) have adopted so-called "sanctuary policies." Generally, sanctuary policies instruct city employees not to notify the federal government of the presence of illegal aliens living in their communities. The policies also end the distinction between legal and illegal immigration -- so illegal aliens often benefit from city services too.
The justification of creating sanctuary cities is often under the guise of protecting "immigrant rights." But illegal aliens are not immigrants -- immigrants come to the US legally, and maintain their legal presence. When a person is illegally smuggled into the US or knowingly violates their visa restrictions -- he/she is not an immigrant or visitor, but an illegal alien subject to deportation. The real reason behind sanctuary policies are public officials bowing to political pressure from the open-border lobby -- and/or an attempt to pander for votes at election time.
The bottom-line is that US cities with sanctuary policies provide safe havens for illegal aliens and/or terrorists in America. These policies allow criminal aliens to avoid deportation because they prevent local police from reporting foreign criminals to ICE.
Voters need to demand that their public officials take US security seriously, and repeal these idiotic sanctuary policies. Does your city have a sanctuary policy? View the list below to see if your city is on this reader submitted list.
List of US Sanctuary Cities*
*Note: Not independently confirmed by OJJPAC. If you believe a city should not be listed, please send an email, and OJJPAC will attempt to verify.
Last updated: 8/17/06
Alabama
Alabaster, AL
Arizona
Phoenix, AZ
California
Bell Gardens, CA
City of Industry, CA
City of Commerce, CA
Cypress, CA
Davis CA
Diamond Bar, CA
Downey, CA
Lakewood, CA
Los Angeles, CA
Long Beach, CA
Maywood, CA
Paramount, CA
Pico Rivera, CA
Sonoma County, CA
So. Gate, CA
San Diego, CA
San Francisco, CA
Vernon, CA
Wilmington, CA
Colorado
Aurora, CO
Commerce City, CO
Denver, CO
Federal Heights, CO
Fort Collins CO
Thornton, CO
Westminster, CO
Connecticut
Springfield CT (Disputed)
Florida
DeLeon Springs, FL
Deltona, Fl
Miami, FL
Sanford, Fl
Illinois
Chicago, IL
Massachusetts
Cambridge, Mass.
Maryland
Baltmore, MD
Gaithersburg, MD
Takoma Park, MD
Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN
St. Paul, MN
New Jersey
Camden, NJ
Fort Lee, NJ
Jersey City, NJ
North Bergen, NJ
Trenton, NJ
Union City, NJ
West New York, NJ
New York
Bay Shore, NY
Brentwood, NY
Central Islip, NY
Farmingville, NY
New York City, NY
Peekskill, NY
Riverhead, NY
Shirly/Mastic, NY
Uniondale, NY
Westbury, NY
North Carolina
Charlotte, NC
Raleigh
Winston-Salem
Oregon
Portland, OR
Texas
Austin, TX
Brownsville, TX
Denton, Tx
Dallas, TX
Ft.Worth, TX
Houston, TX
Laredo, TX
Mcallen, TX
San Antonio, TX [Note: The Sanctuary status of San Antonio is under dispute so OJJPAC is researching the issue to determine if the city's belongs on this list or not.]
Utah
Provo, UT
Salt Lake City, UT
Virginia
Fairfax County, VA (?)
Wisconsin
Madison, WI
Wyoming
Jackson Hole, WY
Most of these will fall into one of four categories: Lefty-infested college towns (Berkeley, Madison, Austin), cities with industries and services that depend on cheap labor (Chicago, Winston-Salem, City of Industry), wealthy communities where large numbers of illegals provide the domestic help (Jackson Hole), or cities with large Hispanic populations (Laredo).
There is no genuine ideological consensus on this issue, though almost all hard leftists are pro-illegal. Note, for example, that college-town Cambridge is the only sanctuary in liberal run Massachusetts. The driving forces appear to be racism, do-gooder elitism, and cheap-labor profiteering.