Virginia Pushes to Hold Sanctuary Cities Liable for Illegals’ Crimes

It’s unclear whether any Virginia jurisdictions qualify as sanctuary cities, but the state legislature is determined to make sure none of them stray across the line, with Republican senators and delegates pushing to withhold money from those that refuse to cooperate — and even considering making them have to pay restitution to those harmed by illegal immigrants within their borders.

The House cleared a bill Monday that would require prisons and jails to honor all requests to transfer illegal immigrants to federal custody, as long as they aren’t asked to hold the aliens beyond the time they’d normally be released.

Senators meanwhile debated — but put off until later this week — votes on bills that would have allowed the state to strip grant money from sanctuaries, and that would have given private citizens hurt by illegal immigrants the chance to claim damages.

“This is very simple: We are either voting for rule of law or voting against it,” said Sen. Thomas A. Garrett, Buckingham Republican and sponsor of the bill to strip funding from sanctuaries.

Sanctuary cities have burst onto front pages nationwide after last summer’s slaying of Kathryn Steinle, a 32-year-old woman shot while walking the San Francisco waterfront with her father. Police charged an illegal immigrant who had been deported five times but had snuck back and was living in San Francisco, where officials just months earlier had refused to turn him over to federal immigration agents for deportation.

In Congress, Senate Democrats launched a filibuster to prevent the national government from stripping federal grant money from sanctuaries, forcing the fight back into the states, where local lawmakers, eager to win points with constituents, are taking up the challenge in about a dozen states.

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