Sanctuary Cities Problem Draws Media Notice
"Everyone has noticed the hypocrisy of the government going after Arizona and ignoring the sanctuary cities," Bob Dane, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, told the LA Times. "They have it exactly backwards. Arizona is applying federal law, and sanctuary cities are violating it."
Beginning in the 1980s, more than 40 cities and counties adopted ordinances or resolutions declaring they were sanctuaries for immigrants. Police and other city employees were told they should not ask about a person's immigration status, and they should not tell federal agents if they learned a person was here illegally.