Nearly two-thirds of likely U.S. voters want the Department of Justice to take legal action against so-called sanctuary cities that do not enforce most national immigration laws, according to a new survey.
Rasmussen Reports polled voters and found that 62 percent of them want the government to step in and punish cities for essentially providing safe haven for illegal immigrants. That amounts to 79 percent of Republicans, 65 percent of unaffiliated voters, and 43 percent of Democrats.
Fifty-eight percent of those voters would like to see the federal government cut off funding to more than 200 such cities across the nation, a figure that includes 79 percent of Republicans.
Sanctuary cities have been in the news after a San Francisco woman was allegedly shot and killed by an illegal immigrant who was taking refuge in the city. He had been deported five times, and the shooting appears to be a random murder.
Presidential candidates, including Republicans Jeb Bush and Rand Paul, along with Democrat Hillary Clinton, criticized sanctuary cities this week.
"The city made a mistake, not to deport someone that the federal government strongly felt should be deported," Clinton said, according to CBS News.
Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, a Republican, introduced legislation this week aimed at repealing sanctuary laws.
The discussion on sanctuary cities is just another rung on the national immigration debate that has raged for months, ever since President Barack Obama took executive action last fall that would grant amnesty to as many as 5 million illegal immigrants currently living in the U.S. The order is currently held up in the court system.
Real estate mogul Donald Trump, a Republican candidate for president, injected new life into the debate when he criticized both the policy and the illegals crossing the border.
"When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're not sending you. They're not sending you. They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems to us," said Trump, who clarified his remarks in an op-ed for Newsmax this week. "They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people!
No comments:
Post a Comment