Chad’s Morning Brief: McCarthy Drops Out of Speakers Race and Number of Sanctuary Cities Increase

Open Line Friday today on The Chad Hasty Show and of course the latest in the Republican leadership battle.

Kevin McCarthy Out

The big news Thursday was that Rep. Kevin McCarthy dropped out of the race for Speaker according to FOX News.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who was considered the front-runner to replace John Boehner, stunned his Republican colleagues Thursday by abruptly withdrawing from the race, throwing the leadership battle into chaos.

McCarthy's decision, announced moments before Republicans were set to nominate their candidate, will postpone the vote for speaker. McCarthy had been running against Reps. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and Daniel Webster, R-Fla., before he dropped out, and it's unclear whether other candidates will now step forward.

While McCarthy, R-Calif., faced vocal opposition from some conservative members and groups, he was thought to have more than enough support to win the party's nomination in the vote initially set for Thursday. Fox News is told McCarthy, in revealing his choice, simply told colleagues it was not his time.

His withdrawal rattled fellow lawmakers, particularly his allies in leadership. But addressing reporters afterward, McCarthy said he thinks the party needs a "fresh face."

"If we are going to unite and be strong, we need a new face to help do that," McCarthy said. "We've got to be 100 percent united."

He said he will stay on as majority leader.

Chaos among Republicans in the House. Republicans now have to wonder if anyone can get the needed votes to become Speaker. Who would want the job right now anyway?

Sanctuary Cities

According to the Washington Times, the number of sanctuary cities is growing and the number of criminals being protected is growing as well.

The list of sanctuary cities has grown to more than 340, and they shielded an average of 1,000 immigrants a month from deportation last year — and more than 2,000 of those released have already been arrested for yet more crimes, according to a report being released Thursday by the Center for Immigration Studies.

Among those released are illegal immigrants accused of murders and brutal assaults, said Jessica Vaughan, the author of the report, which comes just as the Senate is poised to begin debating legislation to try to crack down on sanctuary jurisdictions.

Santa Clara County Jail in California alone released some 1,349 immigrants that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents had asked be held for pickup, the new report says. Los Angeles released 572.

“Our elected officials must not sit back and watch these sanctuary jurisdictions continue to release thousands of criminal aliens back into our communities in defiance of ICE efforts to deport them, and then witness the harm that inevitably ensues when these removable offenders strike again,” said Jessica Vaughan, the report’s author.

Sanctuary cities exploded onto front pages in July, when a Kathryn Steinle, a 32-year-old woman, was killed while walking with her father in San Francisco, and an illegal immigrant released by the county was charged with the shooting.

Ms. Vaughan said San Francisco ranked eighth worst on the list of offenders, releasing some 252 immigrants in 2014 that federal officials had asked be held.

Each of those cities should lose federal funding and all sanctuary cities should be outlawed.