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Fox News
2 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Sanctuary cities forced to comply with federal immigration rules due to innovative program
Sanctuary cities' runaround of the law may have finally come to an end, thanks to a creative program called Operation Guardian Angel. Launched by Bill Essayli, the new U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, this commonsense approach to force scofflaw sanctuary cities to cooperate with—and stop obstructing—federal immigration authorities should be copied by U.S. attorneys around the nation to help rid the country of criminal illegal aliens being detained by local authorities. It's a no-brainer. Sanctuary Cities 101 California has been a sanctuary state since 2018, when former Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law turning it into a sanctuary for criminal illegal aliens. But California's move to create a safe haven for criminals started even earlier, at the local level. In 1979, Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates implemented "Special Order 40," which prohibited his police officers both from making contact with anyone for the sole purpose of learning their immigration status and from making arrests for violations of U.S. immigration law. In 1985, San Francisco's then-mayor Dianne Feinstein signed legislation designating the city as a sanctuary for aliens whose asylum claims had been rejected by the federal government. In 1989, San Francisco voters passed an ordinance extending that protection to all illegal aliens, prohibiting the city's police force from aiding federal immigration officers. In 2013, San Franciscans passed the "Due Process for All" ordinance, which limited when local law enforcement officers could give Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) advance notice of an illegal alien's release from a local jail and prohibited cooperation with ICE detainer warrants or requests. In 2016, San Franciscans amended the law again to impose even further restrictions on city employees that, in essence, ban any and all inquiries into the immigration status of any resident and prohibit any cooperation with federal officers. Sanctuary City Crime Hell Holes Is it any surprise that California as a whole and particularly its cities have become a magnet for illegal aliens? It shouldn't be. And is it any surprise when some of those illegal aliens commit additional crimes, including rape and murder? Sadly, no. But lawmakers and elected politicians there think it's better to endanger the safety of their constituents by releasing these criminals back into local communities rather than turning them over to the feds so they can be deported and returned to their native countries. This has consequences. Take Kate Steinle. She was murdered on Pier 14 in San Francisco by José Inez García Zárate, a career criminal with seven felony convictions and who had been deported five times. He had recently been released from local custody back out on the streets after San Francisco dropped drug charges that were pending against him and refused to cooperate with the immigration detainer ICE had filed against him. California's brand of egregious sanctuary legislation explains how it's possible for 250,000 illegal aliens to have a combined total of nearly 1.7 million arrests for three million offenses committed on U.S. soil, as one 2011 study showed. Of course, those numbers have likely expanded exponentially after four years of Biden's open border policies with virtually no vetting. Just this week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a list of sanctuary jurisdictions across the country, including entire states, counties, and cities. That list includes a total of over 560 sanctuaries that release thousands of deportable criminal aliens every year. Between 2021 and 2024 alone, 22,000 illegal aliens were released from sanctuary city jails without notification to ICE. One of these released illegal aliens was Jose Antonio Ibarra, the Venezuelan man who brutally murdered Laken Riley in February of 2024. The 22-year-old nursing student was jogging on the University of Georgia campus when she was attacked by Ibarra. DNA evidence showed Riley fought back against Ibarra, who was trying to rape her. After a struggle, Ibarra bashed her head in with a rock multiple times. Her cause of death was blunt force trauma and asphyxiation. But it was New York's sanctuary policy that allowed it to happen. Shortly before Laken's murder, Ibarra had been released from New York custody after being arrested on local charges, but ICE was not informed. Tragically, Laken and Kate's stories are not unique. Every day, thousands of Americans are victimized by violent illegal aliens, who are escorted right past ICE and into our communities by the district attorneys of sanctuary cities. Flouting Federal Law Local and state laws that claim sanctuary status directly violate federal law— specifically, 8 U.S.C. §1373, which bans local governments from preventing law enforcement from sharing information about the "citizen or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any individual." Laken Riley would be alive today had New York's rogue prosecutor Alvin Bragg waited until the DHS issued a detainer for Ibarra and then cooperated with DHS the way the law requires. Kate Steinle's life would have been spared if San Francisco hadn't enacted a policy banning local police officers from notifying DHS when they arrest an illegal alien. A New Way Forward Fortunately, one U.S. attorney is finally fed up with his fellow Californians being slaughtered, assaulted, raped, and otherwise victimized by criminal illegals benefitting from the Golden State's irresponsible policies. Operation Guardian Angel closes the loophole in sanctuary cities' blatantly lawless schemes that allow them to simply ignore administrative ICE detainer warrants. How? Two words: judicial warrants. U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli pulled together an all-star federal taskforce comprising agents from five federal law enforcement agencies—including ICE and the FBI—all working out of an office in Los Angeles. When an illegal alien with a prior deportation is inevitably arrested, upon identification and booking into the local jail, the taskforce seeks a federal criminal warrant—signed by a federal judge—for felony re-entry under 8 USC §1326. By using available criminal databases to find illegal aliens who were arrested and jailed the day before, the team quickly learns of each new offender. Then, a federal warrant is served on local officials, who obviously won't buck a federal judge's warrant. That warrant requires local officials to hand over the illegal criminal alien to ICE. As Essayli said in one interview, "They have no choice; they will comply." And it's already working. Operation Guardian Angel started May 10th, and by the 15th, ICE agents had made 13 arrests. Once fully underway, the taskforce expects to make 40-50 arrests weekly, even despite the obstructionist sanctuary policies of the city and the state. There is no reason why every one of the 93 U.S. Attorney's offices shouldn't be copying Essayli's playbook. His simple, effective strategy returns to immigration law enforcement the power that his sanctuary state wrongfully stole. Operation Guardian Angel is a step in the right direction of recovering the Central District of California from the open border crisis, removing criminal illegal aliens, and restoring sanity in a state that has lost its way.
Boston Globe
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
No country for old politicians? Some California Democrats want an age cap.
The idea, initiated by San Francisco Democrats in a resolution, will be considered by the statewide party when it holds its convention later this month. Although it is largely a symbolic pursuit, the fact that the conversation is occurring at all is noteworthy in a place known for revering its elder leaders. California is the state of former Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who died in office at age 90 in 2023. It is also the home of Jerry Brown, who served two terms as governor in his 70s; Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker, who is 85; and Barbara Lee, the former Congress member who was elected last month as Oakland mayor at the age of 78. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Not all of those leaders have caused worry, and some have had significant achievements late in life. But former President Joe Biden brought the issue to the fore last year when he was campaigning at 81. Many Democrats believe he waited too long to bow out, robbing the party of time to mount an effective effort to beat Donald Trump. Advertisement 'We can't just act like it didn't happen and like we aren't going to make changes as a result,' said Eric Kingsbury, a San Francisco Democrat. Advertisement Former House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., spoke during a news conference on the Equality Act at the Capitol, on Tuesday. Rod Lamkey/Associated Press Kingsbury, 36, is a member of the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee. He said he wrote the resolution as a direct response to Biden staying in the race too long and some Democrats remaining unwilling to even discuss how to clear the way for younger candidates. His resolution called for exploring a mandatory retirement age for all elected and appointed leaders at the state and local levels. Notably, it did not specify a particular age. The proposal passed last month and will be among hundreds considered by the California Democratic Party at its convention this month, but it may not advance very far. Even if it does, it would take a state law, passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor, to impose an age limit. This article originally appeared in .
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Opinion: Aging Democrats Are Still Telling the Same Old Story. It's Time to Turn the Page
I want to propose something that might make you mad, but bear with me: Every Democrat in Congress over the age of 70 should seriously consider making this their last term. I'd love to ask every Republican to do the same, but I'm not expecting anything noble from them. You can call me an ageist. But while everyone is entitled to age with dignity, no one is entitled to age as one of the most powerful people in the country. To do so, in fact, is undignified. The longer our present members of Congress stay in office, the less room there is in the room for new blood. Holding onto power indefinitely isn't leadership—it's obstruction. Time after time over the last few years, we have seen the impact of our senior leaders (pun intended) holding onto power far past their prime, from President Joe Biden to Senator Dianne Feinstein to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And we have all paid the consequences. But just a couple of weeks ago, we saw an example of what passing the torch can look like: Michigan Senator Gary Peters announced that he will not run for re-election in 2026–opening up an opportunity to bring a fresh face, and perspective, into the U.S. Senate. (It is telling in news announcing his departure, at 66 years old, he was declared 'relatively young for the U.S. Senate.') Democratic leaders like Senators Chuck Schumer (74) and and Nancy Pelosi (84) must do the same, or know that they are holding back the future of the party they have long shepherded. It's actively harming us now: The Democratic caucus in Congress last month obstinately chose to make 75-year-old Rep. Gerry Connolly the face of the party's efforts to provide oversight over Trump, snubbing the charismatic and effective Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Connolly is also one of the co-chairs of a 'Rapid Response Task Force' the Democrats announced this week, which will work to counter 'far-right extremism.' Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro (81) is another of the task force's co-chairs, along with Rep. Jamie Raskin (62) and primary chair Rep. Joe Neguse (a baby at 40). While their wisdom and experience have value, and while some can certainly still hold their own, the septuagenarian and octogenarian class of Democratic leaders—predominantly older white men—are by and large ill-equipped for this crisis we have found ourselves in. Many would go further still, arguing they helped create today's mess through a longstanding commitment to civility and decorum that the GOP long ago abandoned. Just as importantly, few can genuinely make the case they are the representative from their state or community best suited to win and serve. The skills it took to win elections—and to wield people's attention once you've done so—in the 90s aren't the same as what is needed today. We desperately need leadership who not only understands why voters today are disengaged, misinformed and flat-out angry but can also communicate that anger in a way that resonates. Look at people like Reps. Ocasio-Cortez, Jasmine Crockett, and Maxwell Frost, all in their 20s and 30s when they were elected to Congress, and all who stepped up in the decade since Trump came into the political arena. They fundamentally approach politics differently. They know that the GOP isn't interested in being a good partner in governing, and they know how to authentically connect with voters to prove it. Many of them understand social media and how to shape an online persona, because they've been doing it their whole lives. Republicans have recognized this reality. Their rising stars understand how to maneuver new media and shape narratives in the digital age. They are beholden to seniority (or even respect) for committee chairmanships and other leadership roles. They recognize the value of fresh energy and ideas. Consider that if the 2028 Republican nominee isn't J.D. Vance, it'll be someone equally internet-savvy. Who will be ready to counter them? In the past, older leaders have been hesitant to step aside in part due to a lack of qualified successors. That's no longer the case. Run for Something, an organization I founded in 2017, has helped to fundamentally reshape and replenish the Democratic pipeline. Almost 1,500 of our candidates have won their races, building power in every state save Idaho. That's not just a number—it represents concrete change. In New York City, landlords now bear the cost of broker's fees instead of tenants. In Virginia, more kids now receive free school lunches. In Texas, the cost of insulin is capped. These victories prove that young, diverse, and fearless leadership can deliver results. We've built an incredible bench of Gen Z and millennial leaders. But instead of letting them onto the court, they're being blocked by their own teammates. That must change. We can't keep telling qualified young leaders to wait their turn–or that their time only comes when someone dies or gets dumped out of office, not just into retirement but a retirement home. A generational shift in power is coming. The leaders we need are ready. It's time to let them lead.
