Cities encourage illegal immigration

By: DENNIS HOLLINGSWORTH | Tuesday, April 11, 2006 6:18 PM PDT ∞

In the 1980s, cities around the country began instituting illegal immigrant "Safe Havens" and "Sanctuary" ordinances or policies that prevent city employees, especially law enforcement, from inquiring about the immigration status of any individual or cooperating with federal immigration officials.

While it would be easy to dismiss such declarations as rhetoric to showcase their higher state of "enlightenment" on the illegal immigration issue, these actions have a real impact on California and contribute to a real cost: about $10 billion dollars.

That's the estimated total annual cost of illegal immigration to the state's taxpayers. The cost for incarcerating more than 18,000 criminal illegal immigrants alone is almost $750 million. With the estimated population of illegal immigrants in the state at more than 2.3 million and growing, California taxpayers can expect to be footing the bill for an even larger tab in coming years.

With an ongoing budget deficit of over $6 billion, the cost is a serious impact on our state's ability to accommodate a growing legal population of immigrants and births.

These "sanctuary" policies that prevent law enforcement from doing their jobs and encourage massive illegal immigration have now spread to nearly 20 California cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego. These ordinances not only encourage illegal immigration and its costs, they prevent law enforcement from combating gangs and drug rings.

Murderous gangs like MS-13 and others' members are predominantly illegal immigrants. Yet, these sanctuary policies prevent police from turning over to immigration officials a gang member they know is in the country illegally. And who do these gangs prey upon? Largely the underclass of illegal immigrants and inner city Hispanics. So much for these policies being immigrant friendly.

These reasons are why I've introduced SB 1767, which would stop state aid for a city with an illegal immigration "sanctuary" ordinance or policy.

The saying goes, "if you want to get someone to change, hit 'em where it hurts." Government hurts most when hit in the pocketbook. Take away state funding from a city: no more state highway money, no park bond dollars, and grants for gang task forces, drug enforcement, or libraries.

Cities that thumb their collective noses at the law will do it at their own taxpayers' expense, not the rest of California's.

While enacting this bill makes sense to most Californians, don't expect it on the governor's desk any time soon. With the Democratic Party in Sacramento squarely on the side of illegal immigration; promoting it with reduced tuition at state colleges, rewarding it with health care benefits and facilitating it with drivers' licenses, don't expect my bill to see the light of day.

Too bad. With Congress now debating our borders and illegal immigration, the least we can do from state government's perspective, if not stopping it, is to stop encouraging it.

State Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth represents the 36th District, which includes areas of Riverside and San Diego counties, and is the Senate Republican whip.