Bill To Strip Philadelphia, Other 'Sanctuary Cities/Counties' Funding Passes PA Senate

Senate Bill 10 aims to strip sanctuary cities – including Philadelphia – and counties of funding and is on its way to becoming law, as the Pennsylvania Senate approved the bill 37-12 Tuesday.

If the bill – called the Municipal Sanctuary and Federal Enforcement (SAFE) Act –makes it to law, more than $1 billion in funding would be cut from 20 entities, ranging from counties to townships to cities.

Philadelphia would lose $638,029,775 if the bill goes forward, according to the bill's fiscal note.

Mayor Jim Kenney has said the bill is an "extreme reaction" by the legislature.

"It is an extreme reaction to a policy that hundreds of localities, including 19 in Pennsylvania, have been forced to adopt as a result of our broken national immigration system," Kenney said in late January. "In Philadelphia, [being a sanctuary city] has enabled our law enforcement to drive down crime to a 40 year low, by providing immigrants who come forward to report crimes or act as witnesses sanctuary."

According fiscal note on the bill, the following area will be affected if the bill becomes law:

• Abington Township
• Bedford County
• Bradford County
• Bucks County
• Butler County
• Chester County
• Clarion County
• Delaware County
• Erie County
• Lebanon County
• Lehigh County
• Lycoming County
• Montgomery County
• Montour County
• Perry County
• Philadelphia City/County
• Pike County
• City of Pittsburgh
• Westmoreland County
• City of York

"I also urge Pennsylvanians who have been unsettled by what they've seen in recent days to call the Governor and state legislators," Kenney said. "Tell them that you don't want the White House policies that have sent our nation into chaos and threatened the very principles upon which our nation was built codified into Commonwealth law."

Image via Ken Marshall, Flickr Commons