by Frank Holmes, reporter
President Donald Trump has staked his presidency on securing the nation’s borders — and he may soon have a new tool to keep the country safe.
Sanctuary cities and states refuse to obey federal immigration laws, even sheltering criminal illegals guilty of committing serious crimes against American citizens.
Some states shower illegal immigrants with rights and privileges reserved for legal residents, like drivers licenses.
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But a bill pending in Congress would cut off tens of millions of dollars from flowing to sanctuary cities and states.
The “Stop Greenlighting Driver Licenses for Illegal Immigrants Act,” introduced by Senator Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., would drop sanctuary states that give licenses to illegals from a federal program that funds law enforcement.
Currently, 15 states and the nation’s capital issue drivers licenses to illegal immigrants: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, Washington state, and Washington, D.C.
The practice not only openly breaks the law but puts national security at risk—because illegals can get a legal state driver’s license by producing a foreign birth certificate or consular ID, which are open to abuse.
The 9/11 hijackers had no trouble receiving state IDs that let them stay in the U.S. illegally — even though under the law they should have returned to their own countries.
“Some states are returning to that pre-9/11 posture by again issuing driver’s licenses to illegal aliens,” said Lora Ries, an expert in homeland security at the conservative Heritage Foundation.
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Illegal drivers cost American lives on the roads every single week.
“In my home state of Colorado, Sean Buchanan, a loving father of five, was struck and killed by Miguel Ramirez Valiente, an illegal immigrant who was driving under a suspended state-issued driver license. Ramirez Valiente should have been deported after a DUI conviction, but because of Colorado’s sanctuary laws, officials provided him sanctuary and shielded him from deportation,” said Republican Congressman Ken Buck, who is sponsoring the bill in the House.
“Sean’s tragedy was completely preventable,” Buck said. “Congress cannot stand by and let another family go through a tragic loss like the Buchanans did.”
The people who die as a result of these Open Borders policies are the very people the politicians pledged to protect, Republicans say.
“Each year illegal aliens kill roughly 2,000 Americans on American soil,” said Congressman Mo Brooks, R-Ala., one of the bill’s co-sponsors. “To make matters even worse, Socialist Democrats double down on their radical agenda by giving drivers licenses to illegal aliens—encouraging and promoting lawlessness.”
Illegals don’t just commit crimes with automobiles. “According to ICE, more than 10,000 criminal aliens freed by sanctuaries have re-offended after release,” said Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies. “It’s appropriate that the federal government step in to protect our communities and defend the authority of immigration enforcement agencies.”
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Giving drivers licenses to illegals could also undercut U.S. elections. “Before you know it these licenses will be used at voting booths across the country,” said Congressman Paul Gosar, R-Ariz.
Just one county – Los Angeles County in California – already has 1.5 million illegal voters on its rolls. That’s 12 percent more registered voters than it has U.S. citizens eligible to vote. Texas officials found 58,000 people have already voted illegally.
Representative Brooks said the federal government “must use every arrow in its quiver to end sanctuary policies.”
President Trump actually tried to stop sanctuary states from cashing in on these funds in 2017, in an order from then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. But activist judges ruled against the administration, saying the program doesn’t say states must obey immigration law.
Sen. Blackburn’s bill fixes that loophole.
Today, the sanctuary states in question get about $53 million a year from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program, according to Sen. Blackburn’s office.
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The bill is one of the many steps the Trump administration is backing to crack down on those who harbor criminal aliens.
President Trump has sent highly-trained members of the Border Patrol Tactical Unit, or BORTAC, to arrest and deport criminal aliens hiding out in sanctuary cities.
The administration recently blocked the state of New York from participating in the Trusted Traveler Programs (TTP), which speeds up the process of returning to the United States from overseas.
And Attorney General William Barr has said he is studying whether sanctuary jurisdictions have broken “the criminal statute that prohibits the harboring or shielding of aliens in the United States.”
Sen. Blackburn’s bill will give the president another way of demanding that liberal cities stop flouting the law and start protecting their fellow Americans.
The bill has six co-sponsors in the Senate and 21 sponsors in the House.
Frank Holmes is a veteran journalist and an outspoken conservative that talks about the news that was in his weekly article, “On The Holmes Front.”