Thread: Massive crowd fills hearing on bill to ban immigrant sanctuary cities in Wisconsin

Updated: Jan 20, 2016 4:41 PM PST


MADISON (WKOW) -- It was standing room only in the Assembly Committee on Urban and Local Affairs Wednesday as 400 immigrants registered against a bill to ban so-called "sanctuary cities" in Wisconsin.

But the author of Assembly Bill 450 testified that the killing of 32 year-old Kathryn Steinle in San Francisco last July makes it necessary legislation.

"The killer was Francisco Sanchez, an illegal immigrant and convicted felon who had been previously deported five times," said Rep. John Spiros (R-Marshfield).

But it's what happened before the crime itself Rep. Spiros specifically wants to address.

"U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE had issued a detainer for Sanchez requesting that he be kept in custody until immigration authorities could pick him up. However, since San Francisco is a sanctuary city, the city did not honor the detainer. He was released from jail and set free," said Rep. Spiros.

Under AB 450, local law enforcement agencies that charge an undocumented immigrant with a crime, would be required to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

But opponents of the bill say it would make immigrants unnecessarily frightened.

"I urge you to really not to continue the politics of fear that we're seeing across our nation," said City of Madison Alder Shiva Bidar-Seilaff, an immigrant who joined others in saying the bill would further push undocumented immigrants into the shadows.

"I would not be able to call the police for fear that they would take me away from my family," said Arturo Teapila, an immigrant who lives in Madison. "I work everyday trying to improve my life. I'm not a criminal."

Rep. Spiros considers Madison, Racine and Milwaukee County to have sanctuary provisions, but admits he's unsure what they entail.

The City of Madison passed a resolution in 2010 that urges law enforcement officers not to contact Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents when booking a non-U.S. resident, unless they are being arrested on a felony charge.

But Madison Police Chief Mike Koval said his officers will contact ICE agents for undocumented immigrants being arrested for a felony or if they have faced three or more significant misdemeanor arrests. Examples of significant misdemeanors would be for offenses like domestic violence, sexual abuse, unlawful possession of a firearm or drug distribution.

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MADISON (WKOW) -- The Assembly Committee on Urban and Local Affairs had to open up two overflow rooms to accommodate a large crowd of Latinos that showed up to speak out against AB 450, a bill that would ban so-called "sanctuary cities" in Wisconsin.

Rep. John Spiros (R-Marshfield) authored the legislation after the death of Kathryn Steinle, a 32 year-old woman who was shot and killed in July on a pier in San Francisco. Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, an undocumented immigrant with a felony record, was charged with her murder.

The shooting triggered a national debate over immigration after it was revealed that the San Francisco Sheriff's Department had released Lopez-Sanchez just three months earlier, despite a federal request to detain him for possible deportation.

San Francisco and some 300 other cities and counties have passed sanctuary laws of non-cooperation with federal immigration officials seeking to detain jail inmates suspected of being in the country illegally. The San Francisco Sheriff's office refused to hold Lopez-Sanchez on a 20 year-old marijuana possession charge.

Rep. Spiros told 27 News in December he would not want to see such a tragedy happen here.

"I think basically you need to follow federal law. And federal law says, look - if someone's arrested you need to ask their immigration status," said Rep. Spiros.

But Rep. JoCasta Zamarripa (D-Milwaukee) believes the bill would further discourage immigrants from cooperating with police officers who are conducting criminal investigations.

"What we're gonna have now is folks who are already undocumented, living in the shadows that are gonna go further underground," said Zamarripa.

http://www.wkow.com/story/31013482/2016/01/20/wkow

Please keep us posted on the outcome of this bill, please. Thank you.

There is no right to advocate for foreign citizens, outside of registered lobbyists. There is only one channel that people in favor of illegal "immigrant rights" can go through, and this isn't it. Also, they haven't pointed out any real loss in "cooperating with the police." Most people will do it if there is a good cause.

Illegal foreign nationals intimidating public officials.