White House threatens to veto anti-sanctuary city bill, ahead of Senate test vote

White House threatens to veto anti-sanctuary city bill, ahead of Senate test vote

FoxNews.com

Published October 20, 2015

The White House on Tuesday threatened to veto a Republican-backed bill that would crack down on so-called sanctuary cities by withholding funding to local governments that don't cooperate with federal immigration officials. 

The veto threat comes ahead of a critical Senate test vote Tuesday afternoon. 

GOP sponsors furiously are trying to peel off a few Democrats to advance the Stop Sanctuary Cities Act, whose consideration comes months after a young woman's murder in San Francisco allegedly at the hands of an illegal immigrant touched off a national debate over immigration law. 

"Sanctuary cities and the associated violent crimes by illegal immigrants are reaching a critical point, and we cannot wait any longer to take action to protect Americans here at home," sponsor Sen. David Vitter, R-La., said in a statement. 

The White House, though, claimed in a written statement that the bill "fails to offer comprehensive reforms needed to fix the Nation's broken immigration laws and undermines current Administration efforts to remove the most dangerous convicted criminals and to work collaboratively with State and local law enforcement agencies." 

According to the White House, it would "essentially turn State and local law enforcement into Federal immigration law enforcement officials, in certain circumstances." The chamber's top Democrat also has tried to discredit the measure by calling it "The Donald Trump Act," linking its provisions to controversial statements made by the Republican presidential front-runner about illegal immigrants. 

But GOP backers cast the legislation as a critical first step toward reining in the exploding, and risky, practice of cities and counties ignoring federal immigration law. Vitter urged colleagues to "remember Kate Steinle's vicious murder and the tens of thousands of crimes committed by illegal immigrants within our borders."