Los Angeles Sanctuary Policies are Literally Playing with Fire

The fires that are ravaging Los Angeles are the product of both natural and manmade circumstances: Unseasonal Santa Ana winds gusting up to 100 miles per hour, incompetent city and state leadership, bad land and water resource management and misplaced priorities at the upper echelons of the Los Angeles Fire Department are some of the most notable ones.
Along with bad luck and bad management, city and state sanctuary policies have managed to add still more fuel to an already combustible situation. Over the weekend, residents of Woodland Hills acted on their own to restrain a man using what was described as a “flamethrower.” Thankfully, the alert citizens stopped the individual and held him until the LAPD showed up before he was able to touch off another raging fire.
The man who was placed under arrest is Juan Manuel Sierra-Leyva, an illegal alien from Mexico who was not unknown to the LAPD and the local criminal justice system. In fact, Sierra-Leyva, who has not yet been charged with arson, is now being held on felony parole violation charges. Needless to say, you cannot be released on felony parole without having been convicted of a felony.
In fact, according to the New York Post, “Sierra-Leyva has a lengthy rap sheet in LA County and has been convicted of multiple crimes — including assault with a deadly weapon in 2023, records show.” And yet, there he was on the streets of Woodland Hills adding to an already dangerous and deadly situation.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has issued a detainer for Sierra-Leyva, but the agency says it does not expect it to be honored by local officials. California is statutorily a sanctuary state, and no state resources may be used to assist federal efforts to enforce immigration laws (apparently even if the person in question is attempting to incinerate the state).
But those existing sanctuary policies are not enough for California officials. In the aftermath of Donald Trump’s election in November, Gov. Gavin Newsom convened a special session of the State Legislature with the aim of Trum-proofing California. Even as Los Angeles was ablaze, the governor and the Democratic super-majority in the legislature reached an agreement to spend $50 million of taxpayers’ money to thwart the Trump administration from implementing its agenda. According to Politico, “Half the money would go to fending off any mass deportation plan the new president might enact early in his administration.”
Existing state and county sanctuary policies were also insufficient for the city of Los Angeles. Much to the surprise of just about everyone, the city had never formally ratified its status as a sanctuary for illegal aliens. On November 19, the City Council acted unanimously to “correct” that oversight. According to Councilwoman Nithya Raman, who sponsored the law, “The newly adopted ordinance permanently enshrines sanctuary policies into municipal law and prohibits the use of City resources, including property and personnel, from being utilized for immigration enforcement or to cooperate with federal immigration agents engaged in immigration enforcement. Critically, the Ordinance also prohibits the direct and indirect sharing of data with federal immigration authorities – an important gap to close in our city’s protections for immigrants,” she wrote.
Just in time to keep Mr. Sierra-Leyva from being handed over to the incoming Border Czar, Tom Homan, who would likely prioritize his removal, if local law enforcement decides not to put him behind bars and keep him there.
California voters have sent a clear message over the past several years indicating that they have had enough of the madness – recalling or defeating district attorneys who refuse to prosecute criminals; approving ballot measures that make theft a crime; recalling and defeating mayors who do not prioritize public safety; and recalling schoolboard members who do not focus on education.
In the wake of the tragic and ongoing disaster in Los Angeles, it is hard to imagine that the public will have any tolerance for local officials who protect a convicted criminal alien caught wielding a flamethrower while their city is burning around them.
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