Early in the summer, Republicans were tacking on a slew of lopsided immigration enforcement amendments to a DHS Appropriations bill. The charge was led mostly by Senator Sessions and his anti-immigrant cronies, one of which was Senator David Vitter (R-LA).
Now it looks as if Senator Vitter is back at again, fully charged with a fresh squeeze of xenophobia.
Yesterday, Vitter tried to deny Community Oriented Policing Services funding from going to cities that have sanctuary policies, where local law enforcement officials can refuse to report undocumented immigrants who are victims and witnesses of crimes to ICE. But according to the Department of Justice, law enforcement agencies don’t have to:
The mandatory provisions of Penal Code section 834b concerning cooperation, verification, and notification with respect to persons arrested who are suspected of being present in the United States in violation of federal immigration laws are not subject to enforcement by local law enforcement officers.
Unfortunately for Vitter, more Senators understood that taking away community policing funds from big cities (that are big in crime too) would further endanger public safety, whether that public be undocumented or not. His amendment was defeated.
