COURTLAND
Democratic senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine joined 52 of their colleagues in October to block legislation that would crack down on local governments which refuse to fully comply with federal immigration laws.

The Southampton County Board of Supervisors expressed its support for the bill and its disappointment in the senators’ position on the Stop Sanctuary Policies and Protect America Act by unanimously adopting a resolution on Monday night.

The resolution reads that the board, “expresses its disappointment in Senator Kaine’s and Senator Warner’s unwillingness to allow the bill to proceed with further discussion and debate, effectively rendering the top of sanctuary jurisdictions as unworthy to merit the Senate’s consideration.”

Bill 2146, which failed on the floor of the U.S. Senate in a 54 to 45 procedural vote, would prohibit a sanctuary jurisdiction from collecting federal grants and would toughen criminal sentences for illegal immigrants who are convicted of a serious crime after being repeatedly deported.

“I’m disappointed in my senators,” Vice Chairman Ronald West said.

The House of Representatives approved a similar bill in July after an illegal immigrant allegedly shot and killed a 32-year-old woman in San Francisco, a so-called sanctuary city.