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U.S. House passes bill targeting crimes by migrants

June 30, 2017

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday intended to crack down on violence committed by undocumented immigrants that gained some of its impetus from a Mesa man's 2015 death.

The bill, dubbed the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act, includes language from a measure introduced by U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz. The bill is part of a pair of measures that encountered stiff Democratic opposition in the House and could fall short in the more-evenly divided U.S. Senate.

The Biggs bill, labeled Grant's Law, grew out of the 2015 shooting death of Grant Ronnebeck. Police say he was killed by an immigrant in the U.S. illegally who was already convicted of felony burglary.

Ronnebeck's death attracted national attention, including from President Donald Trump, who cited it during his campaign as a symptom of a broken immigration system.

A similar flashpoint case, the 2015 death of Kathryn Steinle in San Francisco, shaped the other bill that passed the House, Kate's Law.

Together, the bills would provide greater punishments to people who re-enter the U.S. after being deported and take federal funding away from "sanctuary cities" that do not enforce federal immigration laws.

In a statement, Biggs said the bill he helped co-author would end "lax" immigration policies.

"Everybody in America agrees that someone who is criminally violent should not be released on the streets of America. Yet for years, the policies of the Obama Administration have allowed exactly the opposite to happen, leading to countless innocent Americans being put in harm's way," he said. "One of them, my constituent, Grant Ronnebeck, was murdered in 2015 by an illegal immigrant who had a long criminal record and had been released from federal custody while awaiting deportation proceedings."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the measures were thinly veiled attacks on immigrants.

"Who is safer when immigrant families fear going to the police when they are witnesses or victims of crimes?" Pelosi said in a statement. "Once again, the Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress have put their cruel agenda of discrimination ahead of safer communities. ...

"States and communities must have the right to choose humane and effective law enforcement strategies that protect and serve, not deport and intimidate. ..."