The way to redeem Kate Steinle

I'm a law-abiding American, honorary Texas Ranger, and big supporter of law enforcement and military personnel. I believe civility and decency are maintained by law and order. And without the enforcement of laws, rebellion and anarchy will only grow throughout our land.

I'm sure you've heard by now that a California jury acquitted a seven-time convicted felon and illegal immigrant who had been deported five times of the charges of Kate Steinle's July 2015 murder. He was not even charged with involuntary manslaughter or assault with a deadly weapon when he pulled the trigger of a .40 caliber pistol and fired a bullet that killed the vibrant and precious young woman.

His only conviction was being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Forget for a moment that he was a seven-time convicted felon and illegal immigrant who had been deported five times.

Forget for a moment that the gun used in the murder was stolen from the car of an off-duty agent for the Bureau of Land Management.

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Forget for a moment that the repeated felon even admitted to pulling the trigger.

Forget for a moment that the repeated felon and illegal immigrant had the same rights as any law-abiding citizen when it came to reasonable proof and protocol of jurisprudence.

Forget for a moment that he was not even convicted of assault with a deadly weapon or involuntary manslaughter, while countless other people have been convicted of it for accidentally hitting and killing someone while driving their cars. (It was a total failure of the prosecution not to get at least an involuntary manslaughter conviction because negligent discharge of a firearm is involuntary manslaughter.)

Forget for a moment that the seven-time convicted felon was in jail again for drugs in San Francisco, when authorities released him to roam the streets of the City by the Bay despite the order from the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE, that they detain him until ICE could secure him for deportation.

Forget for a moment that the U.S. has a chronically bad history of deportation failures of criminal aliens, who continually pour back into our country like gnats through a screen door.

Forget for a moment that San Francisco authorities could again release the acquitted felon from jail into the streets without a call to alert ICE.

Forget for a moment that we have more than 200 sanctuary cities in the U.S. that harbor tens of thousands of fugitives like him, and the next victim could be one of your loved ones during this holiday season while on a fun-filled shopping spree.

Forget all the above criminalities? Never!

What's wrong with this picture?

And, we ask, who's to blame for Kate Steinle's murder?

Chuck Norris provides real solutions to our county's problems and a way to reawaken the American dream in his best-seller, "Black Belt Patriotism."

ICE Deputy Director Tom Homan was spot on when he said: "San Francisco's policy of refusing to honor ICE detainers is a blatant threat to public safety and undermines the rule of law. This tragedy could have been prevented if San Francisco had simply turned the alien over to ICE, as we requested, instead of releasing him back onto the streets."

As WND's Leo Hohmann wrote, "According to ICE, since 2014 there have been 10,000 criminal aliens released by sanctuary policies who subsequently committed new crimes after their release – that's 10,000 preventable crimes."

Deputy Director Homan added, "It is unconscionable that politicians across this country continue to endanger the lives of Americans with sanctuary policies while ignoring the harm inflicted on their constituents."

Homan's words bring me back to those of Errol Louis, a CNN political commentator and host of "Inside City Hall," who defended the notion that, "Sanctuary cities are not the problem."

To Louis and countless others like him, the 200 cities across America – like San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York – that refuse to enforce federal laws against illegal immigrants and, in so doing, harbor and protect them, don't bear any culpability in the slaying of Kate Steinle, who was simply out for an evening stroll with her father on the popular Pier 14 when she was gunned down.

Whether one believes the gun was accidentally discharged or not, a seven-time convicted felon and illegal immigrant who had been deported five times was set free by San Francisco officials to walk the streets. And such releases will continue to happen regularly across our union, if local, state and federal representatives continue to do nothing to stop them.

Please consider these alarming statistics in the article, "The truth about crime, illegal immigrants and sanctuary cities," published in The Hill and compiled by a former Spanish-speaking career detective and forensic criminologist who is a subject matter expert in violent crime and advocates for facts and evidence.

If we are going to wait around for government officials to see the light and rightly deal with immigration policy or even enforce present immigration laws already on the book, we might as well wait for hell to freeze over.

You'll forgive the tongue-in-cheek here, but the genuine tragedy of Kate's murder and injustice reminds me again of those words of former President Ronald Reagan, who once said, "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

This isn't rocket science. We want to remain a melting pot of immigrants, but it must be done legally and in order. And we must fight to protect our own citizens at all costs, so they can simply live out their lives each and every day. Otherwise, we will continue to hear the cries of victims like the Steinle family, whose words we should heed as empowering marching orders for a way forward.

After the jury acquitted the seven-time felon of Kate's murder, her father, Jim, who held his beloved daughter in his arms two years ago as she died and cried, "Daddy, help me," said this about the court's judgment this past Thursday: "We're just shocked – saddened and shocked ... that's about it. There's no other way you can coin it. Justice was rendered, but it was not served."

Kate's brother, Brad, replied: "I own a handgun. I know that guns don't just go off. But you have a jury full of people, the vast majority of which probably haven't shot a gun before and don't know the intricacies of how a gun works."

Brad also shared: "I'm not surprised. The system failed Kate from the start of this chain of events. Why would the verdict be any different? From the drug charge. To being released. To not being detained by ICE. The BLM agent leaving a loaded weapon in an unlocked car. It is failure after failure."

Brad said the verdict did not affect them personally in any way because his sister is never coming back. He said: "Kate is gone. The strength we have is drawn from Kate. Her memory is with us."

I only wish I had all the powers often joked about me in the Chuck Norris jokes and facts. If I did, I would certainly wish this one wish for Christmas: to bring back Kate for her family. I can't do that, but we can keep her memory alive and even redeem her life and the shocking verdict of her killer by following her brother's advice.

You too can keep her memory alive, and fight to redeem her life in at least four significant ways:

1. It's too late for Kate, but it's not for others who will be the next victims. Be mindful that our city and government officials' liberal policies are putting you and yours in harm's way. Don't assume that you will be defended. Watch out, and protect yourselves and your loved ones.

2. Don't ever give up fighting for law and order. Write or call your local, state and federal representatives, and let them know your thoughts about the case. You might even want to share and include a link to this column. Tell them to enforce the immigration laws already present in federal law. Admonish them to fight for the induction of Kate's Law, which passed the House of Representatives with bipartisan report five months ago but still hasn't been voted on by the Senate. Now is the time!

3. Jim Steinle wears a bracelet stamped with the words, "The Kate effect," which is a reference to the vitality and compassion his daughter manifested to everyone. On the morning of her death, she posted on her Facebook these encouraging words, "Whatever's good for your soul, do that." Please do the same.

4. Consider a Christmas donation to the charities that mean most to the Steinle family. Here are two that are raising funds and doing good in Kate's memory: the Challenged Athletes Foundation and Students Rising Above.

When Kate was laid to rest a few years ago at a private memorial with family and friends outside her hometown of Pleasanton, California, her mother, Liz Sullivan, put it well: "Hopefully out of this there will be stronger laws that will come about. Maybe this will facilitate something to expedite it."

Mrs. Sullivan, I hope it will. I pray it will. It's way overdue. If they finally do, your daughter's sacrifice will then save others' lives, too.

Chuck Norris provides real solutions to our county's problems and a way to reawaken the American dream in his best-seller, "Black Belt Patriotism."