Pros And Cons Of Sanctuary Cities

Sanctuary cities are areas where laws, ordinances, resolutions , executive actions, or initiatives deny local law enforcement the ability to apprehend or question an individual based on his or her immigration status, even if there are reasons to believe the individual entered the country illegally. This action is achieved when the mayor of a city signs a bill preventing local law enforcement from questioning someone about his or her immigration status, such as if he has or does not have a visa/green card, even if they have been arrested for an unrelated topic. While in office, President Donald Trump threatened to cut the police budget of the cities that do not comply with immigration laws and turn in those who are in the country illegally.

While it can provide protection, it can also harbor dangerous criminals who have left their home country and are damaging society. “Of 8,145 undocumented immigrants released from detention requests between Jan. 1, 2014 and Aug. 31, 2014, 5,132 (63%) had previous criminal convictions or were marked a public safety concern; 2,984 (36.6%) had felony charges or convictions; 1,909 (23.4%) had misdemeanor convictions or charges related to violence, assault, sexual abuse, weapons, or drug distribution; and 239 (2.9%) had three or more misdemeanor convictions.”(fairus.org). One prime example of this is the case of Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, an undocumented immigrant with seven felony convictions in the United States who has been deported from the country five times. Yet, the city of San Francisco refuses to detain him for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officials (ICE). Juan then went on to murder Katie Steinle in San Francisco in 2015, when this could have been prevented if the City of San Francisco had turned Juan over to ICE, as requested. It is a well known fact that America faces serious threat from terrorist organizations, and sanctuary cities are places that can harbor terrorists who have entered the country undocumented, causing a large threat to society. Since there are hundreds of extremists the FBI is pursing,

The threat of budget for law enforcement getting cut by the federal government sanctuary cities still emerges throughout the nation. Sanctuary cities also help bridge the trust between undocumented immigrants and law enforcement. “70% of undocumented immigrants and 44% of Latinos surveyed are less likely to report if they were the victim of crime and 45% of Latinos are less likely report crimes or voluntarily offer information about a crime for fear police officers would about their immigration status”(procon.org). When undocumented immigrants witness crimes or are affected by crimes, they are less likely to notify or cooperate with the police, due to the fact that they fear that they might be questioned about their immigration status. This lack of witness testimony can cause the public to suffer and crimes to go unsolved. If the undocumented immigrants feel safe to cooperate with the police, it is statistically proven that the crime rates are considerably lower and therefore the city is safer. “Murder rates in San Francisco, one of the oldest sanctuary cities, were at their lowest in 2014 (with 45 murders) since the 1989 "City of Refuge” ordinance was enacted. San Francisco’s murder rate is lower than comparable non-sanctuary cities, with 5.75 murders per 100,000 residents in 2013 compared to 11.39 in Dallas and 15.17 in Indianapolis.”(npr.org). Sanctuary cities are technically legal due to the 10th amendment