Sanctuary city politics comes to Houston

Houston Chronicle:

Just when Houston Mayor Bill White figured he had put the long-standing "sanctuary city" debate behind him, Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly brought it back with a vengeance.

Earlier this month, O'Reilly blamed White and Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt for the actions of Pasadena resident Joe Horn, who shot to death two illegal immigrants from Colombia who had burglarized his neighbor's home.

"These two illegal aliens are dead because of Houston's sanctuary city policies," O'Reilly said during an interview segment on his cable TV show. "That's why they're dead."

White couldn't disagree more.

"It's a blatant untruth that Houston is a sanctuary city," White said in an interview last week.

Hurtt agreed, blaming O'Reilly's "erroneous reporting" for the sanctuary controversy. Still, the debate shows no signs of diminishing locally or nationally. Even the definition of what constitutes a sanctuary city is hotly contested.

Recently, the term has become a kind of political hand grenade, lobbed around in the GOP presidential debates to make opponents appear soft on illegal immigration. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has repeatedly been accused by his opponents of running New York as a sanctuary city.

Politics aside, the label could potentially have financial consequences for cities. The U.S. House last week removed from a spending bill a provision to deny Homeland Security funding to "sanctuary cities," which were cast in congressional debates as "aiding and abetting illegal immigration."

So what is a sanctuary city?

Experts said there is no single, universally accepted definition. The phrase is often misused in the news media and by politicians to describe cities with a wide range of policies on treatment of suspected illegal immigrants, critics said.

"It depends on who defines it," said Nestor Rodriguez, a University of Houston sociology professor and co-director of UH's Center for Immigration Research. "People who are restrictionists tend to see sanctuary cities as any city where police are not required to inquire about immigration status when they stop people for a traffic ticket."

The phrase emerged in the 1980s when certain U.S. cities, including San Francisco, offered sanctuary to Central American immigrants who crossed the border illegally after fleeing wars in their countries.

Even Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff seems confused. He told a congressional committee in September that, "People use the term 'sanctuary city' in different ways, so I'm never quite sure what people mean."

For years, White has tried to shed the sanctuary label, bestowed on Houston and more than 30 other cities and counties by a 2006 Congressional Research Service report. The report described sanctuary cities as having a "don't ask, don't tell" policy when it comes to questioning illegal immigrants about their immigration status.

White has twice tightened up the policy for dealing with suspected illegal immigrants, most recently after the death of Houston police Officer Rodney Johnson, who was shot in the head during a traffic stop in September 2006. The alleged gunman, Juan Leonardo Quintero, was an illegal immigrant with a criminal record.

In the past year, Houston spent $800,000 in overtime to improve screening of suspects, including those accused of minor crimes, such as traffic tickets, the mayor's office said.

Under the city's revised policy, officers are required to check the warrant status of everyone who is ticketed, arrested or jailed — if they fail to show proper ID — according to a memo from the police chief.

People arrested for Class B misdemeanors or more serious crimes are booked into jail and asked whether they are U.S. citizens under the policy. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials also were given full access to city jails and the information collected by HPD.

The policy change also required officers to notify ICE of any suspects with outstanding immigration warrants and previously deported felons. In 2006, HPD referred 54 such cases to ICE. In 2007, it has referred 111, according to an HPD spokesman.

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It does not sound like Houston is currently in the sanctuary city category. Besides that, the Horn shooting was in Pasadena whose city limits adjoin Houston's. San Francisco is clearly a sanctuary city if you believe what it calls itself. Chicago has also claimed that title at some times. A good rule of thumb would be to say that any city that says it is a sanctuary city should be categorized as such. Any city whose policies prohibit cooperation with ICE should also qualify. I favor cutting off all federal funds to such cities.

The NY Times has more on the Horn shooting and the guys he shot.