US Attorney McSwain: Sanctuary City Policies Are ‘Un-American’

Not only are sanctuary cities wrong, but they’re essentially un-American, said US attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, William McSwain on Friday.

“When you come before the law in America it’s not supposed to matter who you are or where you’re from, who your parents are or the like, everybody’s supposed to be treated equally,” said McSwain.

Appearing on ‘The Ingraham Angle,’ McSwain shared his criticisms of Philadelphia’s sanctuary city policies. The problem with sanctuary cities is that they politicize law enforcement said, McSwain:

“Well, fundamentally those of us in law enforcement aren’t supposed to play favorites. Those of us who are prosecutors aren’t supposed to play favorites. That’s a fundamental principle because we are supposed to enforce the rule of law in a fair non-partisan manner. The problem with sanctuary cities is that they sorta turn that whole principle on its head and politicize law enforcement. “

Ingraham asked McSwain to clarify.

“I mean that what they stand for, they stand for the proposition that a certain group of people are not going to be subject to our laws for political purposes,” McSwain answered. “Mainly we’re talking about illegal immigrants.”

Pushing back against McSwain’s claim, Laura said:

Well, they make the opposite claim. Those who are defending the sanctuary city policies including the mayor and his boosters, Mayor Kenny, they’ll say actually sanctuary status keeps the city safer because illegal immigrants won’t go to the authorities otherwise because they’re gonna be afraid of being deported. So it actually makes the city less safe  if you don’t have a sanctuary policy in place.

How do you respond to that?

“I think they have it actually backwards. They do say that they think that it fosters trust among the community and law enforcement ordering in not to enforce immigration laws, actually what I think fosters trust among the community and law enforcement is when the community knows law enforcement is not going to play favorites. If they know the rule of law is going to be respected by the broader community, therefore, believes that law enforcement is doing its job,” said McSwain.

“Not only are sanctuary cities in view wrong, but they’re essentially un-American. When you come before the law in America it’s not supposed to matter who you are, or where you’re from, who your parents are or the like, everybody’s supposed to be treated equally. So if you politicize the law and you say we’re not gonna enforce the law against a certain group of people we’re only gonna enforce it against others you’re essentially doing something that I believe is un-American,” added McSwain.