A woman whose 92-year-old grandmother was slain in a sanctuary city-related killing blamed New York City Friday for her death, and praised President Trump for fighting the city to end the policy.
Speaking at the White House next to President Trump, Daria Ortiz said her grandmother, Maria Fuertes, was a legal immigrant from the Dominican Republic who was a “shining example” of coming to the U.S. the right way.
Authorities say Fuertes was raped and killed by Reeaz Khan, 21.
ICE had tried to take custody of Khan after an arrest late last year but New York authorities ignored a detainer request, which ICE said allowed him to be out on the streets.
“The tragedy in all of this is that this could have been avoided had there been no sanctuary law,” Ms. Ortiz said. “The system not only failed our family but it failed our city.”
Mr. Trump and New York have been engaged in a fierce feud over sanctuary policies. The president met with Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday to try to work out a compromise on the state’s new sanctuary law banning Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from access to state driver’s records.
Sanctuary jurisdictions say immigrants won’t report crimes if they believe their police share information with federal immigration authorities.
Opponents of sanctuary cities say those protected by the policies often target those same immigrant communities for their crimes — and Ms. Fuertes’ case is the latest example.
Mr. Trump has been the biggest booster of families of those killed by illegal immigrants, giving them a platform that no previous administration has.
On Friday the president shared the stage with Ms. Ortiz at the White House, where he was addressing a gathering of the National Border Patrol Council.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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