Congress is rushing to write a new law punishing sanctuary cities who refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, but the father of a man killed by an immigrant said Wednesday he doubts it will go far enough to save enough lives.
Don Rosenberg, who was escorted out of Tuesday’s emotional immigration hearing in the Senate after confronting a pastor who was defending sanctuary cities, told The Washington Times that until Congress and the administration take all illegal immigration seriously, they will end up leaving criminals in the U.S. — and those will go on to kill more Americans.
“This is not a serious attempt to stop the problem of people getting killed,” he told The Times in a phone interview.
Mr. Rosenberg’s son was killed by an immigrant driving without a license who struck and killed his son Drew, who was riding a motorcycle. The immigrant was in the U.S. under special Temporary Protective Status and could have gotten a license, but didn’t.
On Tuesday, he was inside the room, though not one of the witnesses, as the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing with parents and spouses of those slain by illegal immigrants. Also on the panel were a police chief, a victim’s rights advocate and the Rev. Gabriel Salguero, pastor of Lamb’s Church of the Nazarene in New York City, who defended sanctuary policies, saying they were put in place to keep immigrant families from being torn apart.
Mr. Rosenberg said he was tired of hearing sanctuary defenders say criminals were only a small part of the illegal immigrant population, and felt compelled to confront Mr. Salguero afterward.
“How dare you!” Mr. Rosenberg told the pastor, saying that there are thousands of victims of crimes.
“I went over to him and I said I’m really sick of hearing people like you turn the lawbreakers into the victims. what are you defining as a few?” Mr. Rosenberg recalled Wednesday, about 24 hours after the hearing.
Police escorted Mr. Rosenberg out and place him in handcuffs, but later released him, since the committee had gaveled the hearing in a short recess so he wasn’t technically disrupting business.
Mr. Salguero told The Times Wednesday that he understands the passion of the issue, and appreciated the hearing as a chance to give the families a needed voice.
“It was a very emotional time. As a pastor I completely understand people have lost loved ones and are grieving. i have deep empathy for all the people who lost a on, a brother, a husband,” he said, extending condolences and sympathy to Mr. Rosenberg as well as the victims’ relatives who testified.
He said he hopes Congress can find a middle ground that deals appropriately with violent offenders while not going after rank-and-file illegal immigrants.
“Can we find a way that violent criminal offenders are prevented from doing harm in any community — immigrant or citizen community — while not targeting hardworking immigrants? is there a middle ground?” he said.
The hearing included moving testimony from Jim Steinle, whose daughter, Kathryn, 32, was killed July 1 while walking Pier 14 in San Francisco, a sanctuary city. The man implicated in the shooting was an illegal immigrant deported five times and with more than a half-dozen felonies on his record, but whom San Francisco released under its sanctuary policy.
It also included a woman whose son was killed by an illegal immigrant acquaintance, a man whose nephew was killed by an illegal immigrant in a convenience store robbery, and a woman whose husband, a police officer, was killed in a shooting spree by an illegal immigrant.
Mr. Rosenberg said the legislation Congress is working on might not have even applied to some of those killers because it will likely only target serious felons, leaving millions of other illegal immigrants unthreatened.
“Even if it did, it’s the tip of the iceberg. So good. they’re killing 5,000 people a year, we’re saving 10,” Mr. Rosenberg said. “Here’s what works — you’re in the country illegally, we catch you, we deport you. That’s what works. The rest of this stuff is garbage.”
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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