Tester Votes for Sanctuary Cities

Democratic Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) voted in support of sanctuary cities Thursday. The vote prompting one of his potential Republican challengers to tie Tester once again to the vote to shutdown the government over illegal immigrants.

As The Hill reports, several other more moderate Senate Democrats voted to crackdown on sanctuary cities, while Tester voted in support of sanctuary cities.

Senate Democrats blocked a proposal on Thursday that would crack down on cities that don't comply with federal immigration law.

Democratic Sens. Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.) and Debbie Stabenow (Mich.) — who are each up for reelection in states won by Trump — supported the measure.

Montana's Republican Senator, Steve Daines, supported the measure. After the Senate rejected his amendment to protect Americans and withhold certain federal funding from cities who deliberately protect illegal immigrants by refusing to cooperate with immigration services, Daines issued this statement:

It’s commonsense that our cities must follow the law and prioritize securing the safety of innocent Americans. We should not be sending money we don’t have to cities that do not value the security of their law-abiding citizens.

Daines also noted that the amendment received bipartisan support with the support of 54 Senators, but failed to receive the 60 votes necessary for passage.

Meanwhile, Republican US Senate candidate Russ Fagg says the vote shows how out of touch Tester is:

Jon Tester’s latest vote in favor of sanctuary city funding is an embarrassment to Montana. Tester continues to put illegal immigrants ahead of United States citizens."

When Tester voted to shut down the government just a few weeks ago, he claimed it had nothing to do with illegal immigration. His vote today shows that that was not true.