After years of court battles, the Trump administration can finally begin withholding law enforcement grant funding from sanctuary cities. You may remember this wildly popular idea from the ancient days of Trump’s first days in office, back when Jeff Sessions was the Attorney General. Based on the latest horror story involving an illegal alien in Chicago, Trump should start with that sanctuary city.
Congress created a law enforcement grant program years ago called the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program. State, county and local police departments can apply for federal grant money to pay for a wide variety of different types of programs. It gave out $10 billion in funding last year. The grants can range from a few thousand dollars for a police training program or new gear, into the millions for major new programs paid for by the taxpayers. Chicago has received $250 million in grants from the program since its inception.
When Jeff Sessions first attempted to withhold these grants from sanctuary cities, half a dozen states and cities sued the federal government. A District court judge ruled that the Attorney General didn’t have authority to restrict where those funds go; how dare the Attorney General try to withhold that sweet, sweet taxpayer money from sanctuary cities, just because they prevent ICE from deporting violent criminals?
But now the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York has overruled that lawsuit, so it’s “game on.” The unanimous ruling found that Congress gave the AG broad authority to decide how to disperse taxpayer money through the grant program. Trump has announced that now, at long last, it will start denying taxpayer-funded grants to sanctuary cities.
Here’s a story that should convince you that Chicago should never receive another dime from the taxpayers until it rolls out the red carpet for ICE.
35-year-old Christopher Puente is an illegal alien from Mexico. He first breached the sovereignty of our nation’s borders during Barack Obama’s first term in office. He was convicted on felony burglary charges in 2012 and served a short prison sentence for the crime. He was convicted of forgery in 2012.
In 2014, he was caught by the Border Patrol in Texas as he was sneaking back into America. He gave them a fraudulent birth certificate to try to prove he was someone else. Since he was already a convicted felon in the US and was using a forged document, the Obama administration let him waltz right in.
He was convicted on another felony burglary charge in 2017. That was when the Trump administration decided it was time for Christopher Puente to go back home and be somebody else’s problem. Puente failed to show up for his latest court hearing, so he was ordered deported. Puente was still on the loose until June of 2019 when he was arrested in Chicago on theft charges. ICE put an immigration hold on him, but the sanctuary city of Chicago turned Puente loose. Hold that thought.
A few days later, a father took his two young toddlers into a McDonald’s restaurant bathroom in Chicago. The little boy had had an accident, so the dad was cleaning up the boy in a stall with his 3-year-old daughter standing right behind him.
Christopher Puente, who had just been released from custody under Chicago’s sanctuary city policy, grabbed the girl, dragged her into another stall, covered her mouth and proceeded to sexually assault her. The father could hear her crying out, “Daddy, Daddy,” despite Puente holding his hand over her mouth to keep her quiet. The father couldn’t get the stall door open, so he reached underneath the stall, grabbed her legs and pulled her away from Puente.
Puente was identified by police from surveillance video at the McDonald’s and has been rearrested on a charge of predatory criminal sexual assault. The mayor of Chicago says this is all ICE’s fault. “If ICE is complaining, then they should do their job better,” sneered Mayor Lori Lightfoot. She has more compassion for an accused hobo child molester than for his 3-year-old victim. The Chicago Police Department says it’s proud to be a sanctuary city in response to questions about Puente’s release.
And even though Puente is in custody for sexually assaulting a 3-year-old, the Chicago Mayor and Police Department say they’ll turn him loose again before they hand him over to ICE. That’s a sanctuary city in a nutshell for you: Protecting illegal alien criminals even after they victimize American children.
President Trump and Attorney General Bill Barr should put Chicago at the top of the list when it comes to denying law enforcement grants.
