Sanctuary Policies Corrupt Law Enforcement



One of the main arguments used by sanctuary city supporters is that without the policy, illegal immigrants are less likely to report crimes. We at the Federation for American Immigration Reform know from talking to law enforcement officials around the country that that argument doesn’t hold water.

Nevertheless, a recent case from Santa Clara, California, illustrates the reality of what happens when the sanctuary city mentality corrupts the justice system.

The Daily Beast has the story of Abhishek Gattani, an immigrant who is the CEO of a startup company there. Gattani was arrested after his wife Neha Rastogi went to police with a recording of him beating her. Gattani was charged with felony assault and other charges.

However, the Beast says that the charges were lowered to a non-violent felony due to a no-deportation policy by the Santa Clara District Attorney.

Assistant District Attorney Steve Fein, described the plea deal to The Daily Beast as a fair outcome, noting that accessory after the fact is also a felony, though not a violent one that would place Gattani at risk of being deported back to his native India. Fein indicated that his boss, Santa Clara District Attorney Jeff Rosen, seeks to avoid such deportations.

The end result of Santa Clara’s action is that a policy that is allegedly about protecting victims instead ends up protecting criminals.

Rastogi—who is presently separated and in the process of a divorce  from Gattani—made her feelings dramatically clear in a four-page victim impact statement that she read aloud in court on Thursday at what was supposed to have been the sentencing. She declared herself doubly victimized by her husband and by the criminal justice system.

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Content written by Federation for American Immigration Reform staff.

4 Comments

  1. avatar

    Attorney General Sessions needs to start opening some civil rights investigations, partiularly in California. There is an established pattern of immigration control rallies being attacked by so-called protestors who show up looking for violence and the police stand by and do nothing. There was another over the weekend that, as usual, the media is attempting to portray as instigated by Trump supporters because a woman got punched. Never mind that she had tweeted before that she was going to “scalp 100 n#zis”, was throwing bottles and m80s [a powerful firework], was kicking a man on the ground, and had her hands on the throat of the guy who punched her.

    There is a federal class action lawsuit underway in San Jose by Trump supporters who attended a rally in June and were assaulted by protestors while the police stood down on the orders of the police chief. Then there was the undercover tape released last year by a pro Hillary group in which a member of the group said they were deliberately instigating violence at Trump rallies. When people show up with black masks covering their faces they are there to commit a crime and don’t want to be identified. Time to crack down on these people. Where are the civil rights of those being attacked.