Sanctuary cities need to be abolished

Julie Norris

Braden Heisler would like to see an end to sanctuary cities.

Braden Heisler, Student Contributor

San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Seattle and Los Angeles are among the nearly 500 sanctuary cities in the United States, according to the Washington Times. While the exact specifications can vary from city to city, a sanctuary city policy overall limits the amount of local law enforcement’s power over illegal immigrants.  These policies go against the federal law, yet somehow they are still allowed. This in turn creates a safe-haven for these deplorable illegals because they know they cannot be deported.

I firmly believe that sanctuary cities must be abolished for the sake of our home: The United States of America.

It is an obvious violation of law to be here illegally, hence the world illegal. In law,  8 USC section 1324 deals with those persons who knowingly conceal, harbor, or shield undocumented aliens.  It states that it is a crime for those people.  Therefore are the city officials committing a federal crime by establishing and running these sanctuary cities? The answer is obviously yes. Since nothing in law allows them to do this sanctuary cities should be prohibited.

Not only are these people illegal, but they also undermine the law enforcement. Sanctuary cities make it hard for police officers to do their job. According to the Los Angeles Police Department, they were able to recognize known gang members, but couldn’t do anything to apprehend them until they had committed a crime, despite the fact that they were illegals who repeatedly sneaked back into the country. It is law enforcement’s job to keep us safe, and if they can’t do that because of a barrier, we must tear that barrier down.  The barrier in this case is sanctuary cities, and therefore we need to abolish them.

The leads me to my most important point: Sanctuary cities are unsafe. According to Mac Donald, “Two-thirds of all outstanding felony warrants in the city of Los Angeles involved illegal aliens — as well as 95% of outstanding murder warrants.”  In other words the violence in these cities are coming from illegals immigrants! Using recent statistics from Los Angeles,  “Los Angeles saw all crime rise in 2015: violent crime up 19.9 percent, homicides up 10.2 percent, shooting victims up 12.6 percent, rapes up 8.6 percent, robberies up 12.3 percent, and aggravated assault up 27.5 percent.”  It is obvious that sanctuary cities encourage further illegal immigration and promote an unsafe environment. It would seem that the odds are against the cities’ residents, who could be harmed by criminal aliens.  By abolishing these things we are able to make cities safer.

Whenever an act is illegal and going against American’s safety something has to be done.  By abolishing sanctuary cities federal law won’t be broken anymore.  There will also be no more undermining the law enforcement, which will lead to better law enforcement of a city.  Finally, and most importantly, by abolishing sanctuary cities you are only making the cities safer.  By doing this you will be kicking the bad guys out, which will lower the crime rate.  In the end sanctuary cities are nothing but dumps of American exceptionalism.  Therefore, that’s why I believe America needs to abolish sanctuary cities.