“You are not willing to mandate federal detainers, but you are willing to mandate that state and local law enforcement cannot assist you in enforcing immigration laws.” That was just one way that Rep. Trey Gowdy publicly scolded Sec. Jeh Johnson, the head of Obama’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS). With a prosecutor’s punch, the South Carolina congressman came down hard on the DHS boss during a congressional hearing on sanctuary cities and the San Francisco shooting that left a young woman dead, allegedly at the hands of a five-times-deported illegal immigrant.
Western Journalism has reported a number of times on the tragic case involving the illegal alien Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, charged with the shooting death of Kate Steinle as she was out walking with her father on a San Francisco pier. The suspect, who was a known “career criminal” as Rep. Gowdy described him, had been released from custody by the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department, despite a federal hold on him — a detainer — requesting that he be kept in lockup.
In its reporting on the congressional hearing aimed at exploring how Lopez-Sanchez could possibly have been free to allegedly commit the murder with which he is charged, the Washington Examiner noted what the ever-feisty Mr. Gowdy got DHS Sec. Johnson to concede.
Essentially, the top Obama official admitted that the administration doesn’t force governments like that in San Francisco to comply with federal immigration detention orders because, in Johnson’s words: “I think that would be a huge setback in our ability to work with state and local law enforcement, and I suspect that they would agree as well.”
In other words, according to the DHS chief, compelling jurisdictions to follow federal guidelines on detention might damage the relationship between Washington and those locales. It’s a curious argument, considering how Obama is so willing to use the power of the federal government to force compliance with regard to other guidelines handed down by DC, such as power plant emission standards imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency.
By clicking on the video above, you can see for yourself the way GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy grilled Sec. Jeh Johnson in a roasting that shows just how tenacious and unrelenting the South Carolina congressman can be.
This post originally appeared on Western Journalism - Equipping You With The Truth