Some Kentucky Republican lawmakers trying to keep sanctuary cities out of the state
by GIL MCCLANAHAN, AP Friday, January 10th 2020
FRANKFORT, Ky. (WCHS/WVAH) — The volatile illegal immigration issue is taking center stage in the Kentucky General Assembly with a Republican-backed bill to prevent sanctuary cities from coming to the state.
The legislation is Senate Bill One. It's apparently a top priority for Republicans who control both chambers of the General Assembly.
"This is a political statement -- 2020 is an election year," Kentucky Senate Minority Leader Morgan McGarvey said. "We see this talk about sanctuary cities, we see this talk about voter ID laws -- these are all political things meant to get people riled up for an election."
The bill would require law enforcement to use their best efforts to support the enforcement of federal immigration law.
"I firmly believe in our president's policy of controlling our borders of taking our country back and making sure law and order is applied," Sen. Phillip Wheeler, R-Pike County, said.
Senate president Robert Stivers praised the bill as a public safety tool to combat Kentucky's drug issues.
"We are already working on the Mexican cartels," Boyd County Sheriff Bobby Jack Woods said. "We don't need this to help us work on the drug problem. We're working on the drug problem."
Woods said on occasion officers will find an illegal alien and federal authorities are called.
"They are saying go ahead and do your job. Thumbs up. We back you," Woods said.
"It's legislation that has very bad unintended consequences," Ann Perkins, executive director of Safe Harbor Ashland, said.
Perkins says the bill could impact efforts to help victims of domestic violence, some of whom may be in this country illegally.
"Our concern is helping them into safety and helping them get the services they need," Perkins said. "It doesn't matter to us, they're a human being."
A spokesperson for Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear says they are reviewing the bill. While Beshear was attorney general he assured the federal government there were no sanctuary cities in Kentucky so the state continued to receive federal dollars.
Kentucky's new Attorney General Daniel Cameron has endorsed the bill, but civil liberties groups say it will lead to racial profiling and the separation of families targeted for deportation.
https://wchstv.com/news/local/some-k...t-of-the-state
