May I please wrest your eyes away from the gruesome bludgeoning of the “rule of law” known as “Hillary’s Escape” for a moment?

On the same day millions of Americans, left and right, reacted to the FBI’s stunning proof that Hilary did, indeed, lie about every aspect of her illegal email servers, Americans were denied simple, commonsense protection from known criminals.

You may recall the murder of Kate Steinle last summer.

Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, an illegal immigrant with a felony record who had been deported to Mexico five times, fired his handgun three times at Pier 14, a San Francisco tourist attraction, striking and killing young Kate Steinle.

Sanchez confessed, saying he “found” the gun and that he was in San Francisco because it was a sanctuary city and knew he wouldn’t be deported.

He threw the gun into the bay, which was recovered and found to have been stolen from a federal officer.

Steinle’s family is suing the department of, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, San Francisco County’s former sheriff, the federal Bureau of Land Management and Sanchez.

Why?

Because Kate was just one victim of the tens of thousands of convicted criminal aliens, including those found guilty of homicide and rape, released by the Obama administration.

30,558 convicted criminal aliens were released in 2014.

Judicial Watch released documents last year, proving that, through March of 2014, the Obama administration had released 165,950 illegal aliens with criminal convictions back into the population.,

Months before Sanchez murdered Kate, he was in the custody of “Sanctuary City” San Francisco police and scheduled to be picked up by federal agents. The San Francisco police decided not to cooperate and chose to release him, legally, sealing Kate’s doom.

Republicans want to close down those “sanctuary cities” where local authorities can legally refuse to cooperate with federal authorities on illegal immigration enforcement.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz’s legislation would simply increase the penalty for any criminal illegal alien who re-renters the country.

The law would require mandatory minimum criminal penalties for reentry of certain removed aliens, stating any illegal”(1) who was convicted before such removal or departure of an aggravated felony; or

(2) who was convicted at least two times before such removal or departure of illegal reentry under this section; shall be imprisoned not less than five years and not more than 20 years, and may, in addition, be fined under title 18, United States Code.”

Democrats voted against this bill.

Just before the 55-42 vote that failed along party lines, Pennsylvania GOP Sen. Pat Toomey asked, “How many times does this have to happen?At some point, a person needs to go to jail. That’s what Kate’s Law does.”

Cruz was aghast: “An entire year later, the problem that prompted Kate’s tragic, untimely death still exists. Sanctuary cities and the criminal aliens they harbor are a threat to the safety of the American people. Yet, San Francisco and jurisdictions around the country still shelter illegal aliens, actively thwarting enforcement of our nation’s immigration laws.”

Naturally, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid went full tilt boogie nutso partisan and responded by blathering, “These bills follow Trump’s lead in demonizing, criminalizing immigrant, Latino families.”

Really? Trump?

Reid’s use of the plural, as in “these bills,” also referred to Toomey’s bill that would prevent cities with sanctuary policies —- those with rules that grant illegal immigrant felons shelter from the deportation process —- from receiving certain federal funds.

Democrats have their constituencies and that includes illegal immigrants, the businesses who hire them cheaply and the legal immigrants who see amnesty as a solution to the problem.

Republicans also have their constituencies, though not in lockstep.Many Republicans bow to their big business constituents, too.

Those who don’t are trying to serve citizens and the legal immigrants who recognize illegal immigration hurts their opportunities for a good living and sanctuary cities create havens for criminals.

To inveigh against good law by using the name, “Trump,” as a pejorative term proves the Harry Reid Democrats care more about posturing than serving American citizens.

Rick Jensen is Delaware’s award-winning conservative talk show host on WDEL.