An Arizona city that’s home to an estimated quarter-million illegal aliens is refusing to hide behind the designation of a “sanctuary city.”
Immigration activists petitioned the City of Phoenix to designate it a “sanctuary city,” but the city council voted 7-2 to turn down the request citing a state law that requires the local government to cooperate with federal immigration laws.
The metro area of Phoenix contains approximately four million residents and is estimated to have approximately 250,000 illegals according to a Pew Research study.
The state law cited by Phoenix suggests legislators and the voters they represent don’t want the state to be a “magnet” for illegal immigration, says Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, or FAIR.
“It’s certainly something that has been backed by a majority of people in Arizona,” he says.
Meanwhile, a government watchdog says it’s helping a California resident fight a “sanctuary” policy in that liberal-run state, where even officials have vowed to fight federal efforts to crack down on illegal immigration.
Judicial Watch announced recently that it is representing a San Francisco County resident in a lawsuit filed against the county sheriff’s department and its sheriff, Vicki Hennessy.
The purpose of the lawsuit, says Judicial Watch spokesman Tom Fitton, is to “confirm and reconfirm the idea that no one is above the law, not even in San Francisco.”
Mehlman predicts that City of Phoenix leaders are concerned that President Donald Trump could ask Congress to yank federal funding from the city.
“It’s easy to be defiant,” he says, “up until the point where you have to reckon with the loss of a lot of federal dollars and then try to figure out how you’re going to make do without it.”
Likewise, even if Trump takes action against San Francisco, says Fitton, the lawsuit is another effort to hold “sanctuary cites” accountable.
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Copyright American Family News. Reprinted with permission.
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