The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee approved a bill on Wednesday to dismantle sanctuary city laws in Washington, D.C. The proposed legislation—called the District of Columbia Federal Immigration Compliance Act (H.R.2056)—would prevent the D.C. city government from maintaining policies that limit interactions with federal immigration authorities.
“As our nation’s capital, Washington D.C. should be the safest, most ‘America First’ city in the United States, and Congress has the Constitutional authority to end the city’s sanctuary status. My bill is a small step towards returning Washington DC to We, the People,” Representative Clay Higgins (R-LA)—the bill’s sponsor—said.
If enacted, this bill would bar D.C. officials from restricting the exchange of information regarding individuals’ citizenship or immigration status with federal, state, and local governments. It also mandates cooperation with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) requests to detain incarcerated immigrants.
State and local sanctuary laws have been a hindrance to federal immigration authorities, with Massachusetts being an especially infamous example. Often, violent illegal immigrants arrested and charged by local law enforcement are released on bail by far-left judges before federal agents U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can execute detainer orders and take custody of the individual. This leaves ICE agents having to subsequently spend time and resources tracking down the released illegal immigrant criminal and undertaking an operation aimed at their capture.
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