"Kate's Law" and another bill that seeks to protect Americans from illegal immigrants have remained on hold for some time waiting for a president who would sign them into law, House Judiciary Committee Bob Goodlatte, who is working to get the legislation to the floor, said Tuesday.
"We passed [Kate's Law] in the last Congress and it didn't go anywhere," the Virginia Republican told Fox News' "America's Newsroom," but now it'll pass through the House "and we're hoping the Senate will take it up, because it has such enormous public support."
Kate's Law is named after Kate Steinle, who was shot and killed in San Francisco, a sanctuary city, by an immigrant who had been convicted of several felonies and who had been deported five times.
The other legislation, the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act also contains Sarah and Grant’s Law, which ensures unlawful immigrants convicted of drunk driving or arrested for other dangerous crimes are detained during their removal proceedings.
The bill is named for Sarah Root and Grant Ronnebeck. An unlawful immigrant, in January 2016, hit Root's car and killed her, and has since been released from custody and remains on the run. Ronnebeck, meanwhile, was killed in January 2015 at a convenience store by a felon who was free on bond but who faced deportation.
Kate's Law has "enormous public support," said Goodlatte, as people "can't understand why a city or other jurisdiction would choose not to cooperate with ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] to get aliens off their streets so things like the horrible murder of Kate Steinle don't happen to other people."
Goodlatte said he believes it's "largely political" that communities choose not to cooperate with federal officials when it comes to immigrants.
"I believe the overwhelming majority of people of any ethnicity support the government being able to get cooperation to enforce the law because after all, it's in these communities that people will be kept the most safe if those who commit crimes are sent out of the United States or put in jail," said Goodlatte."
The new laws can also give private citizens for the first time a cause of action against those cities if they or a loved one are harmed or killed by an illegal alien, said Goodlatte, as it allows such individuals to seek legal cases.
"Kate's Law enhances the sentences on an illegal alien for entering the country," said Goodlatte. "That's what happened five times to the person who killed Kate Steinle.
"I'm hopeful that this president for the first time in a long time wants the bills passed and needs the tools to keep Americans safe."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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