Last year an illegal immigrant named Saul Chavez with a blood alcohol level of .29 ran over and killed a man crossing the street near his Chicago home. Chavez did not stop and dragged the body beneath his car until he was apprehended by an off-duty Chicago cop. This is not a particularly unusual story given that both Chicago and Cook County, Illinois, comprised of the city and most of its suburbs, have declared themselves "sanctuary cities," i.e., jurisdictions which welcome illegal immigrants.
To understand the brazenness and stupidity of such a public declaration, suppose a large American city declared itself a "sanctuary" for heroin users. It would attract thousands of such criminals as well as those that enable them, drug dealers, drug runners, etc. Illegal immigrants are criminals. So the invitation to settle in this City and this County is a declaration that that Chicago and Cook County are openly defying federal law and encourages thousands of subsequent crimes: manufacturing false social security documents and drivers' licenses and the employment of unlicensed illegals as truck drivers in other dangerous jobs which threaten the public.
In the 1960's many southern jurisdictions did much the same thing, refusing to carry out federal civil rights laws. They were not seen as principled but rather as racist. I think the current city/county sanctuary policies are also racially oriented, that is enacted to favor one race at the expense all others.
Illegal immigrants who repeatedly commit crimes in this country are barred from ever being allowed back in. 8 U.S.C. 1182(2)(B). Illegal immigrant Chavez had been convicted of a prior D.U.I. before the subsequent one which killed the innocent pedestrian. If Cook County had not been a "sanctuary" (more accurately racially defiant), he would have been reported to DHS after the first one and likely removed from the U.S. before the subsequent crime. Now that he has committed two crimes, he is ineligible from reentering the U.S. and should be in jail here (thought that is a waster of the taxpayer's money) to fulfill our right as a sovereign nation to enforce our laws and borders
But the story does not end there. After his second arrest Chavez's bail was set at $250,000. But under Cook County criminal court rules, he was allowed to post bond by paying only 10% of it, $25,000. He disappeared. Now Chavez could be living elsewhere in the United States under an alias or back in his home country. In either case he will have evaded punishment for his crimes -- thanks to Cook County's "sanctuary" policies.