The not-guilty verdict in the shooting of Kate Steinle may strike some as the biggest miscarriage of justice since the acquittal of O.J. Simpson.
It’s worse than that because Ms. Steinle’s death was entirely avoidable.
Young Ms. Steinle would be alive today if U.S. immigration laws had been enforced. The shooter, a Mexican illegal alien named Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, would never have been in the country.
In fact, the career criminal also known as Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez had been deported five times – only to sneak back across the border each time. Thanks to San Francisco’s sanctuary policies, he was free to roam around the city until he shot Ms. Steinle in 2015.
Legal experts can debate whether Garcia Zarate should have been tried for first-degree murder or manslaughter. In the end, the felon was found guilty only of illegal possession of a firearm. Federal authorities say he will be deported again, whether the newly anointed sanctuary state of California likes it or not.
The Steinle case highlights the absurdity, and the explicit dangers, of sanctuary cities.
Thomas Homan, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and President Trump’s nominee to head the agency going forward, says nearly 10,000 criminal aliens have been released in sanctuary cities, rather than turned over to ICE.
That’s 10,000 crimes that could – and should – have been prevented, easily and lawfully.
As for Garcia Zarate, the U.S. Department of Justice is now weighing federal charges against him. Among the chargeable offenses: felony re-entry or violation of supervised release.
It’s all so surreal, and so tragic — a shameful waste of human life and resources resulting from the flagrant violation of immigration laws by an illegal alien and his official, law-obstructing enablers.
Public trust and safety took a fatal hit with Thursday’s verdict.
