You may recall that Swalwell, as loyal Democrat, followed suit and voted against Kate’s law that would have mandated five-year prison terms for illegal immigrants with criminal records who were caught again in the United States.
Pleasanton native Kate Steinle was killed while walking on a San Francisco pier with her father in July. An illegal immigrant with a long rap sheet and five deportations is being held to face murder charges.
Last week, Eric trumpeted that he had sent a letter to the Dept. of Homeland Security inquiring about the department has done to correct “deficiencies” that resulted in Steinle’s death.
His statement read, “Kate's murder made national headlines, but it is personal to me and our Tri-Valley community. I have known Kate's family for years and grew up with her brother. The Steinle family's strength in the face of such tragedy has been remarkable, and I share their commitment to making sure something positive comes from her senseless death," said Swalwell. "Now that there has been ample time for DHS to assess the situation, I am asking for an update on actions taken and planned to address any failures in our immigration system that could have contributed to Kate's murder. We owe it to Kate and her family to make sure this tragedy never happens again."
He went onto write that he understood why municipalities are hesitant to deport non-criminal, undocumented immigrants because it can "break apart families, and sows distrust in communities."
That sums up the typical Democrat position. The priority is on the families of the illegals instead of the American law. What is too often lost, particularly in so-called sanctuary cities that simply disobey federal law because they disagree with it, is American citizens and their safety. Kate died because the San Francisco sheriff decided the sanctuary city law over-rode federal law. Wrong—Kate’s death is proof.
I will look forward to hearing from our congressman about what Homeland Security has done to address the obvious deficiencies.
To respond to some questions raised in response to my Thursday blog:
The Bay Area Economic Institute is an arm of the Bay Area Council. The San Francisco-based council is one of the leading business organizations with the mission of influencing public policy to benefit the Bay Area economy. The Bay Area Economic Institute is an arm of the Bay Area Council. As with many regional bodies, there are times the council is right on and there are times it misses.
The toll bridge oversight committee includes Steve Heminger of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission as well as the directors of CalTrans and the California Transportation Commission. CalTrans “managed” the project, while this oversight committee was presumably charged with protecting the taxpayer interests.
The blog post about “at gun point” accurately portrays my viewpoint. That said, there’s the undeniable link between housing and transportation---my challenge is the history of MTC and Heminger demonstrates that more power there—with virtually no accountability—is simply a bad idea. I am looking for a better one.
