Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., was back in the anti-illegal immigration spotlight this week to rail against sanctuary cities and the deaths of three college students in Newark, N.J.
He held a news conference Monday to highlight what he deemed failures of the local government to protect its citizens from the suspects in the slaying — including two illegal immigrants with past criminal records. Tancredo even encouraged the families of the murder victims to sue the city.
“If the alleged assailants are found guilty of these brutal crimes, Newark and its political leadership share a degree of culpability. They have established a sanctuary city policy in violation of federal law, harbored illegal aliens, and their actions have directly contributed to the deaths of three promising young American kids,” Tancredo said in the statement.
This isn’t the first time Tancredo has zeroed in on sanctuary cities. He has referred to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom as a “rogue mayor” for his immigrant-shielding policies, and also sponsored an amendment that withholds homeland security funding from sanctuary cities. Tancredo said there are now attempts in the Senate to remove that amendment.
“Sanctuary cities are safe havens for all illegal aliens, including gang members, drug dealers, rapists, and murderers, further exposing the law-abiding citizens of such cities to greater crime,” he said.
As is typical whenever illegal immigration makes big headlines, Tancredo has been racking up television appearances to comment on the Newark murders. He described the issues surrounding sanctuary cities in an interview with Neil Cavuto on Fox News:
The Tancredo campaign continues to credit his presence in the race for forcing a tougher dialogue on immigration, which has recently included an ad by former Massachusetts Republican Gov. Mitt Romney that attacks sanctuary policies in New York City. Tancredo told the Hill newspaper that the other Republican candidates are beginning to sound like him.
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