Kansas Secretary of State and candidate for governor Kris Kobach (R) blasted “open borders liberals” for their defense of sanctuary cities which he says cost 32-year-old Kate Steinle her life.

His intervention follows the acquittal of the illegal alien killer who caused her death in sanctuary city San Francisco, California.

After five-time deported and seven-time felon illegal alien Jose Garcia Zarate, also known as Juan Francisco López-Sánchez, was not convicted of the 2015 murder of Steinle — despite previously admitting to shooting and killing the woman while she was walking on a pier with her father — Kobach told Breitbart News in an exclusive statement that the verdict “obscures the real problem” which is that Zarate should have never been in the United States to begin with.

Kobach told Breitbart News:

The verdict of not guilty obscures the real problem. Regardless of whether Zarate shot the bullet intentionally or accidentally, the facts are: 1. Zarate was a five-times-deported illegal alien who should never have been in the United States, and 2. by his own admission, Zarate went to San Francisco because it was a sanctuary city. In short, San Francisco’s sanctuary policy led to Kate Steinle’s death. The open borders liberals who continue to defend sanctuary policies are putting American lives at risk.

In 2015, a local news station interviewed Zarate. In this interview, the illegal alien admitted that he had relocated to San Francisco because of its sanctuary city policy.

“Sanchez said he knew San Francisco was a sanctuary city where he would not be pursued by immigration officials,” the report added.

Since Steinle’s death in 2015, the state of California has become a sanctuary state, Breitbart California reported in October, allowing illegal aliens to roam freely across the West Coast region without being detained or deported by federal immigration officials.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has committed to deporting — for the sixth time — the illegal alien who caused Steinle’s death, as Breitbart News reported.

Steinle was killed while walking with her father on a pier in San Francisco in 2015 when the illegal alien shot her. Steinle pleaded with her father to not let her die, but she soon passed away in her father’s arms.

Steinle’s death has not only caused a national debate on immigration policy, but the killing has galvanized a grassroots movements of pro-American immigration reformers and Angel Parents — the family members of Americans killed by illegal aliens — to demand a crackdown on illegal immigration and a legal immigration policy that puts the jobs, needs, and lives of Americans first.

As part of the immigration fight to defend the interests of Americans, rather than illegal aliens, Kobach is responsible for crafting anti-sanctuary city legislation across the country in various states.

Kris Kobach is a columnist for Breitbart News.