North Carolina, Michigan and Texas are among states trying to pass laws to crack down on "sanctuary cities" that protect illegal immigrants from being deported,
USA Today reports.
The efforts come in the wake of the
July death of Kathryn Steinle, a San Francisco woman shot by a criminal illegal immigrant who'd been released from jail instead of being handed over to federal immigration officials – a case that triggered a
House bill cracking down on sanctuary cities.
The Senate is scheduled to take up the bill next week.
But states also are moving in that direction with the first state law targeting sanctuary cities about to be signed into law in
North Carolina.
"Everyone says, 'It's a federal government problem.' No, it isn't. The federal government is not doing its job, so it's our problem," state GOP Rep. George Cleveland of Jacksonville, N.C., tells USA Today.
"We've become so multiculturalist that we don't have the common sense to see that we're ruining our country. Instead, we let cities pat (undocumented immigrants) on the back and here we are."
USA Today reports more than 300 communities have policies aimed keeping federal agents from rounding up illegal immigrants arrested for non-violent minor crimes, noting, however, the policies have led to regulations limiting local officials, including police, from helping Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
After Steinle's slaying, many of those policies came under review.
"As a father of two children, I could only imagine how that felt," Mike Kowall, a Republican state senator from White Lake, Mich., tells USA Today commenting about the Steinle slaying.
"The fact that [the shooting suspect] was locked up and obviously there were other warrants for him, but he wasn't turned over to ICE to sort it all out, it was really disturbing."
Kowall filed a bill that would prohibit any government agency in the state from enacting sanctuary policies. The bill is moving through the Michigan Legislature, and Kowall tells USA Today he's got enough support to get it passed this year.
Texas state GOP Sen. Charles Perry of Lubbock, Texas, has also placed a similar bill on the agenda of the next legislative session.
"The initial response was partisan," Perry tells USA Today. "That's a given in this political environment. But the big picture here is the rule of law. When you allow cities to undermine federal immigration law, you create a scenario ... that can create chaos and anarchy, because who's to say what laws should be enforced?"
"One way or another, we'll get this done," he vows.
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