Mr. Lopez-Sanchez, who was released by the San Francisco sheriff’s office even though it had received a “detainer” request from ICE agents, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to what police described as a random shooting of Kathryn Steinle as she walked with her father on a popular San Francisco pier.
Indeed, many Republicans have begun to pounce on the logic of sanctuary laws, saying the case illustrates the dangers posed by such resistance to deportations. And many this week are calling for these jurisdictions to be stripped of federal funds.
This week, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R) of California is planning to reintroduce legislation to penalize sanctuary cities like San Francisco that do not assist federal authorities with deportation of undocumented immigrants.
“States and cities that refuse to enforce federal immigration laws directly undermine enforcement efforts and – as recent events have shown – present a real danger to citizens,” Representative Hunter said in a statement.
On Thursday, too, GOP presidential aspirant and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry also proposed pulling federal funds from places that do not cooperate with federal efforts to deport undocumented immigrants.
“The case has strengthened the hand of those in the party who want to draw a clear focus on border enforcement as a first step before anything else happens on immigration,” says John Ullyot, a GOP strategist and managing director of High Lantern Group, a management consulting firm in Washington.
“There are a lot voters in the base of the party in particular who do not want to have anything to do with immigration reform and think it’s just a matter of closing the border,” he adds.