Strange Bill on Border Security Builds Momentum
Press Release
Following the Department of Justice's latest guidance that defined the term "sanctuary jurisdiction' for the purposes of qualifying for certain federal grants, Alabama Senator Luther Strange on Tuesday continued to champion holding "sanctuary" cities accountable, saying:
"Under the direction of Attorney General Sessions, the memo released by the Department on Monday makes it clear that this administration will not tolerate the willful subversion of federal immigration laws by state and local governments. By making certain law enforcement grant funding contingent upon certification that a state or municipality is not willfully refusing to comply with federal law, the Attorney General's memo helps bring us one step closer to fulfilling President Trump's promise of restoring law and order across the nation.
"My legislation would give the Attorney General additional tools by expanding the definition of sanctuary jurisdictions to cities that are penalizing local businesses for bidding to work on the border wall. It would also allow the Administration to reallocate federal transportation grant funds from these jurisdictions toward the completion of the border wall."
Strange also welcomed Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) as a co-sponsor of S. 1126, the Securing the Border and Protecting Our Communities Act. With the support of Johnson and original co-sponsor, Senator David Perdue (R-GA), the Strange-authored bill will prohibit local jurisdictions that fail to comply with federal immigration authorities or blacklist businesses that bid on border wall projects from receiving federal transportation grant funding and direct the funds toward the construction of the border wall.
"Together with Senators Perdue and Johnson, I am proud to sponsor this legislation, which will give Jeff Sessions and his team at DOJ another powerful tool in their work to uphold the rule of law," said Strange. "The American people deserve to know that their communities are safe, and that the Administration is doing everything in its power to deliver on their important promise of restoring order to lawless jurisdictions. This is simple: sanctuary cities can either follow the law, or fund the wall."
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