State Rep. Josh Williams says state could partially defund sanctuary jurisdictions
A state lawmaker said local governments using tax dollars to subsidize people in the country illegally is “a slap in the face of everyday Ohio taxpayers,” and he said lawmakers could defund, at least partially, such jurisdictions.
State Rep. Josh Williams, R-Sylvania Twp., has introduced House Bill 26, the Protecting Ohio Communities Act, which would defund sanctuary cities. Proponents argue that it would force leaders of the jurisdictions to choose between opposing federal immigration laws and keeping state funding.
“I think it is a slap in the face of everyday Ohio taxpayers that these urban centers are in the belief that the rest of the state should be paying taxes to the state of Ohio, who then subsidize that money to these urban centers for them to provide resources to illegal immigrants,” Williams told Ohio.News exclusively. “You have to turn off the faucet at some point, and that’s what HB 26 does — at least partially.
“It’s a step in the right direction, and it’s going to be one of those situations where you’re going to mess around and find out,” Williams added. “If that percentage that we’re going to keep from you and give to the state highway patrol to increase interdiction on our highways to get the illegal immigrants caught that way — if that 10% is not good enough, we’ll go to 20, we’ll go to 30, we’ll go to 40.”
Williams said there are two portions of local government funds provided by the state of Ohio that are required to go to counties. There are portions of the income tax and of casino revenue that the state must return to localities.
“The rest of it is discretionary funding from the state of Ohio that can go up or down depending on the priorities of the General Assembly,” Williams said. “Well, I don’t think it should be one of our priorities to provide local government funds back to jurisdictions who want to use those funds to support illegal immigrants and support them staying here in our communities for free on the public taxpayers’ dime.”
“I think that’s why HB 26 is such an important piece of legislation, because it’s the first shot across the bow to these woke sanctuary jurisdictions that the taxpayers have had enough,” Williams added. “There’s no reason why you should have taxpayers in Franklin County paying property taxes to the public schools who then provide education to illegal immigrants.”
