Why do cities offer "Sanctuary" to Illegal aliens?

It seems today that many large U.S. cities have become what are being labeled as sanctuary cities.  For those of you not familiar with the term; a sanctuary city is a city that goes out of its way not to report individuals who are illegally in this country.  This includes not only the victims of crime, but the suspected criminals, as well.

Those in support of this policy argue that individuals need to feel free to report a crime without fear of being deported for doing so.  The argument goes that if these individuals won’t report crime then criminals will intentionally target them.  I honestly don’t have a problem with victims of crime not being turned over to immigration officials, but why not the criminals themselves?   I don’t want a rapist on the loose simply because his victims are illegal aliens, but at the same time I don’t want a rapist to be allowed to remain in this country because the city government won’t turn him over to federal agents.

One of the problems with a sanctuary city is by not removing illegal aliens the crime in the city is increased.  Illegal aliens by definition are not legally allowed to be here and many commit multiple crimes to gain employment or benefits.  My blog article "They are called ILLEGAL aliens for a reason" explains this in more detail.   This doesn’t even address the fact that an illegal alien who commits a crime in these cities would be simply released after serving time and released back into the city to commit further criminal acts.

Houston police officer Rodney Johnson was murdered by an illegal alien who had been in the Houston Police Department’s custody on multiple occasions prior to his murder.  The wife of Officer Johnson is suing the city of Houston because of the sanctuary city policy.   The employer of the alien, Robert Camp, plead guilty to Harboring an Illegal Alien (8 United States Code 1324) and the alien himself was convicted of Capital Murder and sentenced to life in prison.  This case underscores the dangers of Sanctuary City policies and the role the employer plays in illegal immigration.   My blog "Illegal Immigration and the Employer" explores that issue further.

Summary:

There are reasons victims of crime should not be afraid to come to the police because of their immigration status.  Many illegal aliens are hard working people looking to better their lives and shouldn’t be preyed upon because of their fear of reporting crime to the police.  Criminals themselves should be not allowed this protection and by doing so cities increase their own rate of crime and allow more of their citizens to become victims themselves.