Jordan Says County Sheriffs Are Suing Their Own States Over Sanctuary Policies

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said this week that some county sheriffs have taken the extraordinary step of suing their own state governments over sanctuary policies they say endanger the public.

Jordan made the comments during an appearance on Breitbart News Daily, describing testimony his committee has heard from what he called “angel families” — relatives of people killed by illegal immigrants who had prior criminal charges but were released under sanctuary policies.

“We do know of all the angel families in sanctuary jurisdictions where some illegal migrant who has been charged with another crime is let out and then goes and does something terrible. We’ve had angel family after angel family come and testify in front of our committee. We were — every week, we were in session, we were doing a hearing on this because I believe this is such a stupid policy,” Jordan said.

Jordan put the scale of sanctuary policies in national terms, citing 18 major cities, 11 states, and three counties near Washington, D.C. — Fairfax County and Arlington County in Virginia — as sanctuary jurisdictions.

“And again, remember, 18 big blue cities, 11 big blue states, three counties like Fairfax County, Arlington County, right there next to D.C. and the District of Columbia, all sanctuary jurisdictions. That’s almost a third of the nation,” Jordan said. “The population lives in those areas… it’s just dumb.”

Jordan said that frustration has pushed some county sheriffs to sue their own states, including one in Maryland. He paraphrased the sheriff’s reasoning: “I was elected to protect the people in my county. This jeopardizes their safety.”

He said a sheriff in New York has taken similar legal action, and argued Republicans should highlight the issue heading into the midterms.

“We’ve had two of them testify suing their state, and I asked them, I just asked them the basic question. I go, ‘Why suing your state? That’s a big step. You’re a county sheriff. You’re suing your own darn state.’ And…they go, ‘Because it jeopardizes the safety of our people.'”

Jordan said the sheriffs, as the top elected law enforcement officers in their counties, are acting because they see the policies as plainly counterproductive to public safety. “They’re elected as the top law enforcement agent in their county, and they see how dumb, just dumb this is. That’s why they’re doing it,” he said.

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