The normally vacuous Nightline on Tuesday night took a break from such topics as "bootleg butt injections" and instead offered a sympathetic look at San Francisco's sanctuary city law. The city's practice of not reporting illegal immigrants came under harsh scrutiny after a woman was murdered by a man who had been deported five times.
ABC analyst Dan Abrams appeared to defend the laws, saying, "The so-called sanctuary laws are really efforts by local officials to say 'we think it's more important to be able to develop relationships with undocumented immigrants than it is to report them.'" He added, "The position of those who support these kinds of laws is that we need help solving crimes. We need these people to assist us."
Co-anchor Dan Harris repeatedly featured Alisa Wellek of the liberal Immigrant Defense Project, an organization supported by the hard-left George Soros. The IDP's website says this:
IDP promotes fundamental fairness for immigrants accused or convicted of crimes. We seek to minimize the harsh and disproportionate immigration consequences of contact with the criminal justice system by 1) working to transform unjust deportation laws and policies and 2) educating and advising immigrants, their criminal defenders, and other advocates.
Of course, Harris never mentioned ideology or the organization's background. On Nightline, Wellek complained about Donald Trump: "...Politicians love to paint certain groups of people often based on their race, their class, their nationality as the number one target or threat to Americans and we just know that's not the case and we know it lead to a violation of human rights."
Harris lectured his audience, declaring:
DAN HARRIS: To be clear, there are no statistics showing that illegal immigrants are more likely to commit crimes than American citizens. In fact, illegal immigrants only make up a tiny three percent of America's prison population, and, quote, "there's essentially no correlation between immigrants and violent crime, says a study from Northwestern University, analyzing nationwide statistics.
The journalist did include a couple clips of people attacking the concept of sanctuary cities, including Martin Halloran, the head of the San Francisco police union: "If that individual, Mr. Sanchez, was where he belonged, which was in Mexico, and if he had remained in Mexico after he'd been deported five separate times, yes, Ms. Steinle would be alive today."
Overall, however, Harris offered a defensive critique of the city's policy. Nightline is mostly a content-free show these days. At one point in 2014, it went 400 days without covering ObamaCare. However, when the journalists actually do news, there's still the same old liberal bias.
A partial transcript is below:
Nightline
7/8/15
12:46amDAN HARRIS: San Francisco is what's known as a sanctuary city.
DAN ABRAMS: The so-called sanctuary laws are really efforts by local officials to say "we think it's more important to be able to develop relationships with undocumented immigrants than it is to report them."
HARRIS: The idea is that immigrants are more likely to cooperate with police if their cooperation doesn't mean they run the risk of deportation. San Francisco is one of dozens of major American cities that have enacted some form of sanctuary law.
ABRAMS: The position of those who support these kinds of laws is that we need help solving crimes. We need these people to assist us.
HARRIS: Officials from immigrations and customs enforcement, also known as I.C.E., say they specifically asked in writing to be notified when Sanchez's drug case was completed. But local law requires a court order or warrant.
JULIE MYERS WOOD (Fmr. Director, I.C.E): This individual came into the country five times, was deported a number of times. So obviously we had issues at the border. But if the local entities had only notified I.C.E., this individual wouldn't have ended up on the street.
HARRIS: With the presidential election heating up, Steinle's murder case has become a political football. Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has seized on the case as part of his already incendiary rhetoric against Mexican immigrants.
DONALD TRUMP: They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists, and some, I assume are good people.
HARRIS: He claims Steinle's murder proves his point, writing on Twitter, "What do you say to the family of Kathryn Steinle, killed because we can't secure our border?"
ALISA WELLEK (Immigrant Defense Project): I think Donald Trump is preying on fear and using a tragedy opportunistically. He's trying to paint an entire community with a broad brush stroke that is not only factually incorrect, I think it's actually morally wrong.
HARRIS: Hillary Clinton is now joining the fray as well.
HILLARY CLINTON: How many people running for president on the Republican side try to demean immigrants?
HARRIS: She has supported sanctuary laws in the past, but today on CNN, she said that San Francisco officials should have listened to the federal government.
CLINTON: The city made a mistake not to deport someone that the federal government strongly felt should be deported.
HARRIS: This is not the first time that sanctuary laws have been questioned. In 2008, also in San Francisco, an immigrant named Edwin Ramos shot and killed a father and two sons. Critics at the time said Ramos had a history as a minor but was shielded by the policy. To be clear, there are no statistics showing that illegal immigrants are more likely to commit crimes than American citizens. In fact, illegal immigrants only make up a tiny three percent of America's prison population, and, quote, "there's essentially no correlation between immigrants and violent crime, says a study from Northwestern University, analyzing nationwide statistics.
WELLEK: We know, historically, you know, politicians love to paint certain groups of people often based on their race, their class, their nationality as the number one target or threat to Americans and we just know that's not the case and we know it lead to a violation of human rights.
HARRIS: Yesterday, the mayor of San Francisco, Edwin, Lee spoke out in defense of the city's law, saying it is not intended to "protect repeat, serious and violent felons. We want people to report crimes." But today, the head of the police union in San Francisco seemed to blast both I.C.E. and the sanctuary law.
MARTIN HALLORAN (SF. Police Officers Assocation): If that individual, Mr. Sanchez, was where he belonged, which was in Mexico, and if he had remained in Mexico after he'd been deported five separate times, yes, Ms. Steinle would be alive today.
