Republicans would be dumb not to pick a budget fight over sanctuary cities

Very few people in America realize the extent to which Democrat-controlled areas are now harboring the worst illegal alien sex offenders and dangerous criminals. Republicans barely talk about it and never use any legislative leverage point to expose the issue and force a resolution. The latest budget deadline is a perfect opportunity for them to either end sanctuary cities or expose the open-borders supporters to the American people. They’d be dumb not to pick a budget fight over this issue right now. Case in point? Montgomery County, Maryland.

Hillary Clinton carried Montgomery County 75-19. Local Democrats couldn’t lose office if they tried. Yet a sustained focus from just a few reporters and one Trump administration official on how its sanctuary policies harbored scores of illegal alien sex offenders has brought County Executive Marc Elrich to the negotiating table.

WAMU reports that after meeting with ICE officials on Wednesday, Elrich is considering changing his policies on notifying ICE when local police release criminal aliens from local jails. Frank Madrigal, ICE’s Baltimore deputy field office director, said in a statement, “We are pleased that we were able to come together with Montgomery County officials today to speak more clearly and candidly about our goals for public safety.” While stopping short of touting any policy breakthrough, he noted that in general, “This kind of open dialogue is welcome, productive, and more supportive of our public safety practitioners and the communities they serve.”

National Republicans as well as anyone in the Trump administration not named Ken Cuccinelli (who is already aggressively fighting sanctuaries) should watch and take notes. Imagine if every elected Republican hammered the issue of criminal aliens released or harbored by sanctuary jurisdictions in their respective states every day. Democrats could never withstand a sustained public focus on refusing to turn over other countries’ criminals to ICE. It would single-handedly realign the electoral map. Yet they barely say a word even when the most egregious illegal alien crimes occur in their home states.

Read the rest from Daniel Horowitz HERE.