The Trump administration has already been making a concentrated effort to cut off federal funding from sanctuary cities, but Rep. Todd Rokita’s new bill takes the initiative one step further.
In a bill introduced to the house on December 4, Rokita outlined a proposal to strictly punish sanctuary city officials who deliberately protect illegal immigrants.
Rokita’s proposed bill would apply severe penalties to elected officials in sanctuary cities. Titled the “Stopping Lawless Actions of Politicians Act”, or SLAP, the bill would imprison local and state officials for up to five years, or impose a fine of up to one million dollars for refusal to comply with federal immigration enforcement efforts and deportations.
In a recent appearance on Fox and Friends, Rokita said “These sanctuary cities need to end. They harbor illegal criminals. And if these politicians don’t obey a valid, constitutionally-upheld federal law, if they’re going to act like criminals themselves, then we ought to lock them up”.
“The American people are rightfully infuriated watching politicians put their open-borders ideology before the rule of law, and the safety of the people they represent. Politicians don’t get to pick and choose what laws to comply with”.
Rokita’s bill comes in the wake of the Steinle trial conviction—illegal immigrant Jose Ines Garcia Zarate was acquitted of murder charges in the murder of Kate Steinle in 2015. Zarate had been previously deported back to his home country of Mexico five times and had been released from jail by San Francisco officials, despite federal requests to detain him for deportation. While walking along Pier 14 in San Francisco’s Embarcadero district, Zarate fatally shot Steinle and was subsequently arrested. The court found Zarate not guilty of murdering Steinle—a verdict that angered many Americans who were already frustrated with the lax immigration policies in Democrat-dominated cities like San Francisco.
“Americans are dying because politicians sworn to uphold the law refuse to do so,” Rokita said.
Rokita is running in the Republican primary against five other candidates in an attempt to win a Senate seat currently held by Democrat Joe Donnelly. With the proposed SLAP Act, he hopes to make the streets of America more safe and secure and to put the safety of our nation’s legal citizens first.
I like the line by Sadusksy in National Treasure, “Somebody HAS to go to prison!”
I believe it is over due to hold these politicians accountable for refusing to obey the law, at the expense of safety concerns of the people who elected them to office.
I believe that the proposed law is a ? law to have on the books if it is used!!! The politicians should be held accountable and fines MUST be from their OWN pocket not tax payer funds !!!
By refusing to uphold their sworn oath to defend the Constitution, anyone who offers any form of “sanctuary” to a person here illegally has violated he law and must be prosecuted, especially politicians, lawyers, judges, LEO’s, and others who took an oath to defend the Constitution. Not only that, but anyone who encourages or supports illegals to come here, live here, work here, or get any benefits here should be held PERSONALLY liable for ALL crimes committed by ALL illegals in the same way politicians, lawyers, and judges hold citizens personally liable for their actions. Either the law applies to ALL or there is NO LAW at all meaning we live under anarchy where only those with money or power can escape punishment using bribes or threats.
What say you America? Do illegals and corrupt politicians get to live by one set of laws while the lawful taxpayers are forced to live by another while paying the salaries of those who write laws they force on us while excluding themselves from responsibility from those same laws? Must We the People pay illegals to live here, to steal jobs from US citizens, allow them to commit even more serious crimes then allow them to escape justice, putting them back on the streets so they can rape, rob, and murder again?
When will we hold the criminals in power responsible for letting the illegals come here, live here, work here, get benefits here, commit crimes here, then let them escape justice here while we are forced the bear the burden of all their crimes and personal losses experienced by our families at the hands of these criminals, just so the criminals in government can get even richer?
Maybe it is time to deport all the illegals then hang all the politicians according to the laws the politicians have violated repeatedly with impunity, laws they wrote but REFUSE to enforce?
I think it would be a good idea to build the wall, then put those who created these sanctuary cities on the other side of it!
Follow the money. These stupid cities need to feel it in their pocket. President Trump is right – no federal MONEY. Thank you for some common sense.
I hope he wins.
The fine will destroy the law. There are enough libs with money who will pay the fine for politicians to allow them to keep breaking the law. If a fine is included it should be per illegal arrested, then it may help.
That’s a good question Kim. What happened to the rule of law? I don’t believe any of these people defying Federal law will see any jail time. It’s hard to admit there’s as many of these traitors as there is us good guys.
Soon, one of two things are going to happen, the co-conspirators are going to be looking for a rock to hide under or they’re going to be working for the mexicans. You see what the mexicans have done to mexico. Gee, why would anyone want that! MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR.
As I understand the current law, “anyone who knowingly provides aid, shelter, comfort to,and or concealment of a known or suspected felon from local , state, or federal law enforcement officers is guilty of abetting and subject to arrest and imprisonment”. WHY do we need another law on the books which will in all probability just provide ambiguity for all the corrupt attorneys to make (extort) more money. I’ve read the constitution several times, also with the help of a couple of books specifically written for that and I have seen nothing with regard to the word sanctuary. ENFORCE THE CURRENT LAWS! and arrest the politicians too. Am I missing something here????? If you are one of those who claim you didn’t know something was illegal because you don’t read or understand american, then don’t come here…Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t put that last part in spanish, but I could have! ( that was for the very few libs who might accidentally read this!)
Not only should they face the consequences of their actions, family members who have lost loved ones to illegal aliens protected by these cities, should be able to sue cities and individuals for damages.
California’s Jerry Brown’s the worst–start with him.
Can’t happen soon enough. They can start with (unfortunately) the governor of my state, gov. Moonbeam. Then Emanuel, Bloomberg, Soros, and the rest.
Not going to happen. All have way too much money and political influence. Nice fantasy, however.
I hope they put some serious “teeth” in the bill because it won’t do any good without them. We need judges and prosecutors who aren’t afraid to mix it up a little.
If for many past years, all the politicians had obeyed the immigration laws, which have been on the books for years this country may not be in the current mess.
In articles like this, why is the House Bill number or Senate Bill number never given? Also, why is the state from which Rep. Rokita was elected and the state (presumably the same) in which he is running for the Senate not mentioned? Is it too much to ask that a simple “(R-State)” be placed after his name somewhere in the article?
When I heard the report that 90% of the prisoners in our jails are illegal aliens , I was shocked. With the sanctuary cities refusing to cooperate with immigration officials by a simple posting of those incarcerated to a federal/ central based information center which allows all to know their identity. This behavior causes these repeat criminals to stay off the radar, plus they are living in jail being housed and feed for free.
I am not asking for maltreatment of prisoners but release of their identity ( including picture for facial recognition) and DNA samples since the names may be false.
Those cities and officials have no idea of how malicious these repeat offenders are and need to be responsible for this.
He’s got my vote! Arrest these politicians for harboring criminals. These cities are becoming lawless havens for gangs, thieves and low life scumbags. Time to end this nonsense!
Am I missing something? I can’t find any mention in the article of the state that this guy represents. Anyway, it’s a bill that is long overdue. Let’s make it retroactive.
It is about time I don’t know what we have been waiting for, way over due, and that includes Moon Bean Jerry Brown if he refuses to obey the laws.