By Motecuzoma Sanchez
August 3, 2017
Stockton, CA – Stockton is being targeted by president Trump’s Attorney General Jeff Sessions as one of several cities to lose federal funding to fight crime for being a “sanctuary city” for undocumented immigrants as announced in a new memo for the Justice Department. The catch is- Stockton is not even a “sanctuary city”.
Earlier this year in February Roger Phillips of the Record wrote an article claiming Stockton under the leadership of mayor Michael Tubbs would be passing a resolution declaring Stockton as a “sanctuary city”. Sanctuary status is a policy by cities that declare by policy that their bars funding for any law enforcement agencies to engage in seeking to determine the immigration status of people they encounter or cooperate with federal authorities in enforcing federal immigration laws and policies. Stockton police chief Eric Jones even made a show of this by publicly declaring support of the sanctuary city policy, which critics saw as simply being a politically motivated ruse. This ruse, as presented to the public by ardent Tubbs supporter Roger Phillips in his article for the Record even admitted the resolution lacked a single mention of “sanctuary city”. They promoted it to the community as such nonetheless.
Resolution below:
The federal funding at risk is specifically for cities with higher than average crime rates to help fight their criminal elements. As the 2nd most violent city in California this puts Stockton in a bind, especially when the declaration of Stockton as a sanctuary city was a ruse and not even true. As a result under Tubbs and Jones’ leadership, Stockton will lose funding to fight rising crime and undocumented immigrants still won’t be protected from ICE using local law enforcement.
Below is a copy of that DOJ memo and its requirements:
To keep in line with mayor Tubbs’ ruse to fool the public into thinking Stockton is a “sanctuary city” and maintain liberal support he’s issued the following statement on twitter, deceptive in its nature, that only mentions one aspect of the funding requirements, attempting to satisfy conservatives and residents concerned with Stockton’s high crime rate and deceive them into thinking nothings at risk:
Tubbs’ statement on twitter
The key word in the entire statement is “current“ federal funding. The grant is for funding the city had applied for, but not yet received. And unless the city assures the Department of Justice that it will fully comply with Trump’s mandates it will be eliminated from consideration and those funds will in fact be denied. To comply is to also definitively abandon the very tenets of being a “sanctuary city”.
Currently Stockton Police do not have a specific agreement with the DOJ in a program callled 287(g) which also ensures compliance with federal enforcement.
However, as usual regarding business, government, and politics- the devil is in the detail. Such a policy does not also restrict such cooperation, which is a tenet of sanctuary status. The key statement in Jones’ memo being “solely on the ground that he or she may be a deportable alien” with the keyword being “solely“. Again, it’s deceptive.
So you understand the difference between Stockton’s ploy and what an actual Sanctuary City is, below is the text of San Francisco’s actual ordinance, not just a resolution:
Stockton residents deserve to know not just the difference, but the truth.
