Senator Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) surfaced in the Senate yesterday and had some interesting things to say about the Sanctuary Cities bill slated for a procedural vote this morning.

“This vile legislation might as well be called the Donald Trump Act, like the disgusting outrageous language championed by Donald Trump,” the Democratic leader said. “Republicans are not really proposing this bill to solve any problems within our immigration system. This Donald Trump Act was designed to demonize immigrants and spread the myth that they are criminals and threats to the public.”

The Donald Trump Act?!  BWAHAHAHAHAHA!  Sorry, couldn’t help it. So, the good Senator wants us to ignore the many tragic reasons why this bill is necessary. We’ve written about the Kate Steinle story here, here, and here. In July when that lovely young lady was killed by an illegal alien (Yes people I used the word ILLEGAL), who stayed silent? Good ole Harry!

You see, Harry would like us to ignore pesky details about her killer such as the fact that he has 30 aliases to his credit, was deported FIVE – count them, FIVE times, and had seven felony convictions under his belt.

But you see, Harry doesn’t care about Kate’s murder nor the illegality of and the criminal record of her killer. He’s ignoring the forest and trees on this in favor of staying focused on his exercise band lawsuit.

Whether Harry likes it or not, sanctuary cities cost American taxpayers far too much in terms of lives and $$. Young Kate Steinle is not the only American who has suffered at the hands of a dangerous illegal let back into this country because of a feel good mantra. At this time there are more than 340 so-called Sanctuary cities around the United States.

Mind-boggling when you see it laid out like that isn’t it? Let’s add a few more stats that will augment the map, not that Harry is concerned with anything resembling real data, but we’ll give it a go courtesy of Center for Immigration Studies.

According to an updated report prepared by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for Congress, between January 1 and September 30, 2014, local sanctuaries released 9,295 alien offenders that ICE was seeking to deport. More than 600 people were released at least twice.

Out of these, 5,947 of the criminal aliens (62 percent) had significant prior criminal histories or other public safety concerns even before the arrest that led to a detainer. Fifty-eight percent of those with a prior history of concern had prior felony charges or convictions; 37 percent had serious prior misdemeanor charges, and 5 percent had multiple prior misdemeanors.

Keep in mind that many if not all of those 340 jurisdictions have a history of not cooperating with ICE when dealing with illegal immigrant felons, California’s record is the highest in that regard. So much so that 69% of those illegal criminals are freely wandering around the United States…right now. I don’t know about you, but I’d say the Stop Sanctuary Policies Act introduced by Senator David Vitter (R-La) and co-sponsored by Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA), coming on the heels of the legislation passed by the House this summer is an excellent place to start.

Of course, Harry and his exercise band aren’t the only ones grousing about this Act. Josh Earnest, in all his earnestness insists that the President has done more than Congress has ever done to protect our cities. Senator Toomey and others disagree.

“This should be a bipartisan effort,” Toomey said on Saturday. “President Obama’s own secretary of Homeland Security has declared that sanctuary cities are, quote, ‘not acceptable’ and ‘counter-productive to public safety.’ After all, we’re talking about criminals who the Obama Administration already has deemed dangerous enough to deserve removal from our country.”

And yet, those criminal illegals are still here…somewhere. Hence the very real need for this legislation. In fact, we’ll need it even more so now that Obama and Kerry have thrown the doors wide open to immigrants from all over the world without ensuring the vetting process stays intact. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-TX) and Congressman Dave Brat (R-VA) outline their concerns here. I urge you to read it all along with the commentary from John Hindraker at Powerline Blog.

Harry, let me tell you something. What is VILE is that the current policy you admire so much protects criminals, illegal ones at that, rather than American citizens. What should be VILE to us all is ignoring the threat posed by these criminal illegals and the misguided dangers of keeping the Sanctuary Cities policy in place.