Under two newly approved spending bills, millions in homeland security funds and other federal money might be lost by cities that have undocumented workers. According to House lawmakers, many cities and their officials allow criminal suspects to escape the 1996 immigration law.

New York City’s Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, was outraged by the news threatening “one heck of a battle” if Congress cuts off homeland security and justice dollars. According to Bloomberg, his city complies with the 1996 law and protects the residents’ confidentiality when they use its services. Bloomberg told the Senate Committee, “whatever the findings, let me be clear: The way to deal with this issue is not - not - by reducing the safety and security of our nation.”

House supporters said that Americans are put at risk by officials who do not share information about “illegal immigrants” with the federal government. Republican Tom Tancredo of Colorado, chairman of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, added “Unfortunately, there was a law but there was no penalty. What this does is add some sort of penalty”. Bloomberg responded that this penalty will help terrorists achieve their goal and that they will welcome the news with loud cheers.

So if this goes through, homeland security will be cut for cities upholding our confidentiality? Police, medical staff, and educators will all be forced to share our information with the federal government. Immigrant populations are concentrated in our largest cities. Hence, the most likely targets for terrorist attacks will also be the most defenseless due to the xenophobia of our lawmakers. Cutting homeland security for places like New York City seems like an idiotic maneuver in the “war on terror”. I thought the republicans prided themselves on being able to fight terror better than the Democrats?

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