President Trump Announces Historic Course Correction in U.S. Immigration Policy
FAIR Releases New Report on Sanctuary Cities
By taking meaningful steps to regain border security and enhance interior immigration enforcement, the administration is underscoring the primacy of the national interest. These long overdue policy steps will protect public safety and American jobs.
—Dan Stein, President of FAIR
(January 25, 2017 — Washington, D.C.) - The following statement was issued by Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) President Dan Stein in response to President Trump’s executive orders that will enhance border security, properly resource enforcement efforts, and compel sanctuary cities to comply with the law. Concurrent with the administration’s announcement today, FAIR also released its new report on America’s dangerous sanctuary cities.
“President Trump’s executive actions are a historic, much-needed course correction in America’s approach to immigration policy, which has been on autopilot for decades. By taking meaningful steps to regain border security and enhance interior immigration enforcement, the administration is underscoring the primacy of the national interest. These long overdue policy steps will protect public safety and American jobs.
“Restarting construction of the border wall and fencing, which Congress committed to in 2006, and boosting the number of immigration enforcement personnel, in conjunction with policies that end incentives to illegal immigration, will go a long way in making effective border control a reality. Clearly, a border that offers easy entry for hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens each year is a public safety and national security concern.
“For far too long, criminal aliens have walked the streets of America because their home countries have refused to take them back. The administration’s decision to withhold visas from those countries until they accept the return of their citizens will both reduce crime and save American lives.
“The president’s decision to strip federal funds from dangerous sanctuary cities is also a welcomed move. Today’s action fulfills a key promise he made to American families — including the ‘Angel Moms’ who are with him today — that their government will protect them, not deportable criminal aliens. While this action will not bring back the thousands of innocent lives lost or destroyed by reckless sanctuary policies, it will go a long way to making sure this senseless and preventable carnage doesn’t continue. FAIR’s sanctuary city report breaks out by state some 300 known sanctuary jurisdictions across the country, with most having enacted their sanctuary policies since President Obama took office in 2009.
“Looking forward, we hope the Administration moves quickly on securing the workplace against illegal immigration. The jobs magnet continues to lure illegal immigrants to the U.S. Implementing mandatory E-Verify will ensure that American jobs are reserved for legal U.S. workers.”