CNN’s Robbins: ‘Sanctuary City’ Incentivizes Immigrants to Go There
BALDWIN: “Kate Steinle was out for a walk with her father Wednesday on a pier in San Francisco, broad daylight, a popular tourist area, lots and lots of people around, when she was shot and killed. The suspect is this man. This is Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez, an undocumented immigrant with multiple previous felonies on his record, deported to Mexico five times in the past. He was in police custody as recently as April, but he was released because San Francisco is a so-called sanctuary city. It is a policy not to detain people suspected of immigration violations -- we're going to get more into that in a second -- even if the federal government would like them to… Mel, to you first, just on this sanctuary city notion. Do you think, if you have these cities that -- I don't know if look the other way is the right way to put it or not, you know, enforce certain federal laws. Do you think that that incentivizes certain immigrants to flock to those cities, first of all?”
ROBBINS: “Well, I think, Brooke, the answer is definitely yes. And let's -- let's back up a minute, though, because we keep talking about all of this and it's collapsed into this major, complicated issue. Let me explain what sanctuary city actually means.”
BALDWIN: “Please.”
ROBBINS: “So, in terms of immigration, you can either have a warrant that is issued by an immigration judge, that is a legally binding instrument from the federal government and the immigration system that requires you to hold somebody in your custody, or you can have what we're talking about which are these I.C.E. holds which are a request –“
BALDWIN: “OK.”
ROBBINS: “That a local city hold on to somebody for an extra 48 hours just in case the immigration authorities would like to come speak to them. Now, here's why sanctuary cities exist. Number one, extremely costly. There was a study done in 2009, $65 million to taxpayers. That's the cost for holding people that the immigration would like to talk to. Also, there's the issue that this creates major distrust between an immigrant community and the police because they fear deportation. And then, finally, there's this public safety problem. Now, it may sound weird that I'm saying that, but the reason why it's a public safety issue is if you create distrust, people are not going to cooperate with authorities. And so these are reasons why costs -- also liability. If I hold you, Brooke, and I hold you over the constitutional limit and you sue me, San Francisco, we're liable.”
BALDWIN: “OK.”
ROBBINS: “That's why they do this.”
