Sanctuary Cities- Getting Away with Murder

On first glance, the term “sanctuary city” seems so innocuous, so comforting, so humane. After all, the very word “sanctuary” means a protected, immune and safe place, where those who are pursued find solace, protection and, well, safety. For instance, Catholic and other Christian churches have, for centuries, provided sanctuary to those who fear for their lives and liberty. So have synagogues.

In reality, however, sanctuary cities have all-too-often become harmful, restless and inhumane outgrowths of a very dangerous mindset- the mindset of liberal political correctness. This mindset aids and abets the criminal and murderous to remain here, in the United States, along with the many millions of other illegal immigrants, on a perverted premise of tolerance and inclusion. Note the key word “illegal.”

There are more than 200 sanctuary cities in the United States, including most of the largest cities in America. In essence, being a sanctuary city means that the government of such city does not and will not cooperate with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) , the U.S. Customs and Border Enforcement (CBE) and its U.S. Border Patrol, in enforcing federal law as it relates to illegal immigration.

Hmmm…

Imagine, if you will, such a stance with regards to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). More importantly, imagine a United States where local law enforcement (and, in some cases, state law enforcement) refuses to cooperate with the FBI, and the effects that would have on criminal investigations as they relate to kidnapping, child abductions and bank robberies, just to name a few. Without such cooperation, it would simply be…

…in a word, unimaginable.

Sanctuary Cities.

San Francisco is one such a city. On the first morning of July, 2015, Kate Steinle, a promising young 32-year old woman, was enjoying a morning stroll along the city’s Pier 14, with her father, Jim Steinle. Out of nowhere, one Garcia Zarate appeared in possession of a stolen federally-owned handgun, shot Miss Steinle three times, tossed the stolen handgun into San Francisco Bay, and fled the scene of this senseless murder. Steinle fell into the arms of her father, gasping in her last breath, “Help, me, Daddy.” Despite her father’s attempts at mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, life slipped away from his wounded daughter, as one of the three bullets had pierced her aorta.

Zarate, who had been deported from the United States five times and had a rap sheet including seven prior felony convictions, had most recently been sentenced to prison for illegal re-entry. Upon sentencing however, a federal court instead recommended Garcia Zarate be placed in a federal medical facility. On March 26, 2015, at the request of the San Francisco Sherriff’s Department, the Federal Bureau of Prisons released Zarate, having just completed his sentence for illegal entry into the country, to San Francisco authorities on an outstanding warrant for felony drug charges- the possession and sale of marijuana. When Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) then issued a detainer on this release, San Francisco- being that sanctuary city- refused to cooperate with the request for detainer, and then summarily released Zarate onto the streets of the city where he murdered Kate Steinle, three months later.

That he was acquitted of the murder on November 30, 2017, was really no surprise, being in the very same state that once acquitted O. J. Simpson for the murder of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, back in 1995. As with the Simpson verdict, the acquittal of Garcia Zarate left the surviving family with no sense that justice, for the murder of their loved one, had been served. Once again, liberal political correctness stole the day, and managed to let an assailant get away with murder. Justice may be blind, as they say, but does it really have to be stupid, too?

Had the city of San Francisco co-operated with ICE, Kate Steinle would still be alive, today… Had the U.S. Border Patrol been operating under the policies of the Trump Administration, back when Barack Obama was President of the United States, Zarate might not have illegally re-entered the United States a sixth time, as he did in September of 2009, and Kate Steinle would still be alive, today… Had there been a wall along the Mexican/U.S. Border, Kate Steinle would still be alive, today…as would thousands of others who have been killed by illegal aliens who reside, often under the protection of sanctuary cities, here in the United States.

Hanging in the United States Senate and awaiting legislative action, is the Illegal Re-entry Act of 2015, also known as “Kate Law,” having (finally) been passed in July of 2017 by the U. S. House of Representatives. The law provides for minimum mandatory sentencing, for those deported illegal aliens who re-enter the United States and commit a felony. It won’t bring back Kate Steinle, or the many others killed by criminal illegal immigrants but, if passed and signed into law, it would prevent other people like Kate Steinle from being denied justice and denied the ultimate right- the right to live their lives in these United States.

Or is an illegal’s “right” to re-enter the United States unfettered, under the protection of so-called sanctuary cities, more precious than an American’s right to live?

God forbid.

-Drew Nickell, 1 December 2017

© 2017 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.
author of “Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times”
now available at Amazon

Signed and personalized editions now available at my website:
http://www.drewnickell.com
Follow my postings on the RSS feed: http://www.drewnickell.com/?feed=rss2