AL Senator Luther Strange wants Sanctuary Cities to pay for border wall...

May 17, 2017, 11:29 AM

http://www.al.com/news/index.s...ml#incart_river_home

Sen. Luther Strange wants sanctuary cities to help foot the bill for a wall at the U.S./Mexico border.

Strange, R-AL, and Georgia Senator David Perdue introduced the Securing the Border and Protecting Our Communities Act earlier this week. The bill would prohibit some transportation grant funding from going to so-called sanctuary cities that don't cooperate with federal enforcement of immigration laws. In turn, the grant funding would be reallocated towards building a wall at the U.S./Mexico border, a major - and potentially costly - provision of President Donald Trump's presidential campaign.

Strange said the act will "restore the rule of law" in sanctuary cities.

"The American people spoke out loud and clear last year in support of one of President Trump's most important promises - to finish building the wall on our Southern border," Strange said. "I introduced this bill to make it clear that cities do not get to play games with the safety of their people or ignore clear federal statutes.

"They can either follow the law or fund the wall."

There are more than 100 sanctuary cities and counties around the country, including major places such as New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The bill would also make provisions for withholding funds from cities that punish businesses bidding to do work on the border wall.

Last month, California lawmakers passed measure that prohibits the state from awarding contracts to any company involved in the wall's construction. Similar measures have been introduced or considered in New York, Rhode Island, and San Francisco and the city of Berkley, California adopted a "black list" to cut off any funds to companies or contractors that seeking work to build the border wall.

"Penalizing businesses for joining in this critical national security effort is beyond the pale," Strange said.