House Appropriations Committee Adopts Yoder Amendment to Defund Sanctuary Cities

Press Release

This afternoon, the House Appropriations Committee adopted Representative Kevin Yoder's amendment to withhold funding from cities that adopt sanctuary policies with respect to enforcing immigration laws to the 2016 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill by a 28-21 vote. This marks the first substantive action taken by Congress in the wake of the tragic shooting death of Kate Steinle in San Francisco two weeks ago.

"Congress must take a strong stand against sanctuary cities that support illegal immigration by giving aid and comfort to violent felons," Representative Yoder said. "Cities that refuse to comply with immigration officials and release dangerous criminals back into our communities put innocent American lives at risk. If these cities wish to continue to subvert the law they will do so without the support of American taxpayers. The heartbreaking tragedy in San Francisco was preventable and we must do everything we can to ensure that it never happens again."

On July 1, Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez shot and killed 32-year-old Kate Steinle in San Francisco, California. Reports indicated that Lopez-Sanchez, a five-time felon and five-time deportee, specifically targeted San Francisco because of its sanctuary policies. Sanctuary cities are generally defined as cities that have policies designed to shelter illegal immigrants from law enforcement. Right now, there are about 300 cities in America who operate in some form as a sanctuary city. In this case, San Francisco refused to notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials of the arrest of Lopez-Sanchez.

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