Following Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney's refusal to reverse the city's sanctuary city policy, Senator Pat Toomey has re-introduced the "Stop Sanctuary Policies and Protect Americans Act" with a host of co-sponsors including Senator Charles Grassley, Senator Ron Johnson, and many others.
In response, the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA) National President Nathan Catura issued the following statement:
"Once again, we would like to thank Senator Toomey and the co-sponsors of this legislation for re-introducing their bill to stop the dangerous practice of sanctuary cities.
"It is disturbing that cities such as Philadelphia, and almost 300 other municipalities, do not heed DHS Secretary Johnson's request to halt this practice. Mayor Kenney and the other elected officials that endorse sanctuary city policies are only making their streets more dangerous as many of these cities, including Philadelphia, are experiencing a rise in violent crime. Their refusal to rid themselves of criminal illegal aliens is only contributing to this escalation.
"In most cases, these policies ban police from notifying federal agents of the impending release of a violent offender. This includes gang members, terrorists, drug traffickers and others whose offenses endanger the community every moment they are on the street.
"Even President Obama's Administration has made clear that reporting and deporting criminal illegal aliens is a priority, yet Congress has failed to act to remedy this perilous sanctuary policy.
"We applaud Senator Toomey's leadership with this bill, and implore Congress to act so that all law enforcement can effectively do their job and protect the American people from these violent offenders."
The Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (www.fleoa.org) is the largest nonprofit, nonpartisan professional association that exclusively represents over 26,000 active and retired federal law enforcement officers from over 65 agencies.
