Toomey Sends Letter to McGinty
Support Obama Administration’s Call to End Philadelphia Sanctuary City Status
Dear Ms. McGinty:
According to news reports, President Obama’s Secretary for Homeland Security came to Philadelphia on Tuesday with a modest request: Let Philadelphia’s police officers help the Department of Homeland Security find suspected terrorists and violent criminals hiding in Philadelphia.
As you know, current policy makes Philadelphia a “sanctuary city” — a jurisdiction that forbids its local law enforcement officers from cooperating with federal officials to apprehend illegal immigrants, even when local police wish to do so.
This is not a question of whether Pennsylvania should welcome immigrants. Of course we should. As former Governor and Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell explained, “we should be a more open and friendly city for immigrants,” but “you can do that without becoming a sanctuary city.”
I agree. While the vast majority of immigrants to America are honest, hardworking people, every group includes some wrongdoers. With 11 million people in the U.S. illegally, there are surely some violent criminals amongst them.
Nor is this a partisan issue. The plea to change Philadelphia’s dangerous sanctuary city policy came from President Obama’s Administration. Former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter heeded this plea and cooperated with the Department of Homeland Security. Former Mayor Rendell has criticized the sanctuary city policy that Mayor Kenney has since imposed. And last October, when I joined my colleagues in introducing legislation in the U.S. Senate to end these dangerous sanctuary city policies, our legislation received bipartisan support.
It is regrettable that you rejected our legislation, falsely calling our bipartisan efforts “divisive, partisan attacks.” Recently, you went even further, dismissing all criticism of sanctuary cities as merely “buzzwords.”
Nothing could be further from the truth.
America has seen the dangers that sanctuary cities impose. Consider the tragic case of Kate Steinle. Kate was walking down a San Francisco pier, arm-in-arm with her father, last July when a gunman opened fire. Kate died in her father’s arms, pleading “help me, Dad” as she bled to death. What is truly maddening is that the shooter should never have been on the pier that day. He was an illegal immigrant who had previously been convicted of seven felonies and had been deported five times. A few months earlier, San Francisco police had the man in custody. Federal immigration agents asked the police to hold the man until they could come pick him up. But, the police’s hands were tied: San Francisco’s sanctuary city policy forced them to release the man who would go on to murder Kate.
Sadly, the Steinles are not alone. During an eight-month period in 2014, sanctuary jurisdictions released over 8,000 illegal immigrants, and 1,800 of them were later arrested for criminal acts.
Despite these dangers, in January, Mayor Jim Kenney imposed on Philadelphia one of the most extreme sanctuary city policies in America — more extreme than the San Francisco policy that led to Kate Steinle’s death.
Under this new policy, Philadelphia police are not allowed to notify federal agents when a violent offender is about to be released from custody or detain that person unless those agents have a court-issued warrant. The case of Alberto Suarez illustrates the potential dangers of such a policy. In 2010, Suarez kidnapped and raped a Montgomery County teenager, reportedly telling her that police would never find him because he was in the U.S. illegally. Five months later, he kidnapped a 22-year old woman from a Philadelphia bus stop and raped her. Now, Philadelphia police have to hope that federal officials keep track of Suarez and obtain a judicial warrant to detain Suarez if he is released from custody, or Suarez will be set free and be able to repeat his crimes.
Additionally, Philadelphia’s new sanctuary city policy prevents police from cooperating with federal immigration officials to apprehend suspected terrorists, unless the federal agents have a court-issued warrant and the suspect has already been convicted of a violent felony. Imagine that the Department of Homeland Security calls Philadelphia police, explaining the city has in custody an illegal immigrant whom the FBI suspects of plotting a terror attack. Philadelphia’s response under the new policy? Come back after this individual has committed and been convicted of an act of terrorism or some other violent felony. Until then, we will not help you.
Philadelphia’s sanctuary city policy sends a clear message to those in our country illegally: if you come to Philly and commit your crimes, our police will not be allowed to turn you over for deportation. This is absurd and dangerous.
These are not mere “buzzwords” as you suggest. Real lives in the Philadelphia area are at stake. I urge you to join the bipartisan effort and call on Mayor Kenney to end the dangerous sanctuary city policy in your hometown of Philadelphia.
This is simple common sense. When both the Obama Administration and our police officers agree that an illegal immigrant poses a threat to the people of Philadelphia, we should let them act — not overrule their judgment with an ill-conceived sanctuary city policy.
The people of Pennsylvania deserve a safe place to live, work, and raise their families. The sanctuary city policy you have defended threatens that. I urge you to drop your opposition and heed the bipartisan calls to put public safety first, and call on Mayor Kenney to reverse his sanctuary city policy.
Sincerely,
Pat Toomey