This was not a banner week for the anti-law "Sanctuary" crowd.

Seven-time felon and five-time deported invader José Inéz García Zarate was found to be guilty of nothing in the heartbreaking shooting death of Kate Steinle.

As a refresher, Steinle and her father were out for a walk on a waterfront pier in San Francisco. Following a bang, Kate collapsed into her father's arms, saying, "Help me, Dad." The fact that Zarate fired the bullet that killed her is undisputed.

In other news, it was reported that over the course of about a month, at least seven different illegal residents were arrested in Montgomery County in Maryland for sex crimes, and at least some of them were tossed back into society like undersized fish being thrown back into a lake. These charming chaps raped an 11-year-old, a 15-year-old, and a 16-year-old girl, some at knifepoint.

These are unconscionable outrages, and in a just world, the politicians who enabled them to happen would be held accountable for their role in the death and despair. As with many of the Left's policies, women suffer disproportionately, since the lawless zones are protecting vicious male predators.

None of this should have happened. According to Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution, immigration is fully a federal function, which is why there are federal laws on the books. The states and local jurisdictions have zero equities in immigration law other than an obligation to cooperate with federal officials. Any act to subvert this is a violation of the law.

But the politicians in these areas would rather send the most violent and depraved criminals back into America's communities to terrorize American citizens rather than cooperate with federal officials to enforce immigration laws.

We now have a privileged, protected class in America that in more than 300 jurisdictions can commit the worst possible crimes with little fear of federal justice. While these politicians tell Americans they are trying to protect innocent noncitizens whose only crime is driving with a taillight out, they are routinely protecting and releasing vicious felons.

The severity of this problem is shocking. Consider that federal arrests of noncitizens now account for 64% of all arrests. Seven percent of the population is also responsible for one quarter of all federal drug and property crime arrests.

NBC News tried to downplay these mind-boggling numbers by reporting that 91 percent of violent crimes are still being committed by U.S. citizens. That's another way of saying that about 10% of violent crimes, along with the 25% of drug crimes, are being committed by people who should not be here. And that number is clearly on a rapid upward trajectory.

This is the truth hidden beneath the lying images of angel-faced children at the border being broadcast on the propaganda news networks.

While there are varying levels of insanity when it comes to this issue, more than 200 cities and 300 jurisdictions do not fully cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, to include the big three cities of New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

This concept of nullification of federal law is born out of the Civil War Confederacy. If liberal officials don't agree with federal law, they nullify it under the rubric of providing "sanctuary" from the offending laws and count on sympathetic judges to provide them protective cover.

As Mark Levin noted, "we should call them confederation cities, confederation states. We gotta learn to use the language[.] ... We have a whole confederacy going on out here."

We now have at least seven sanctuary states in addition to all these other jurisdictions. This is eerily similar to what happened in the lead-up to the Civil War, with a host of blue states now in open rebellion against federal immigration law under a Republican president.

ICE agents have one of the hardest jobs in the country. They are often tasked with finding and rounding up the most dangerous people in the country to safeguard Americans. The fact that they are reviled and attacked is a national outrage. The fact that one political party fully endorses this behavior is a national tragedy.

The most illuminating moment of the Democrat debate season was the candidates' reaction to the request to "raise your hand if you think it should be a civil offense rather than a criminal offense to cross the border without documentation." All but two hands shot up. Of those two hands, one candidate is out of the race, and the other will soon follow. Today's Democrat base does not reward brief moments of sanity.

So Democrats are universally in favor of foreign invaders flooding the country and then making them a protected class from federal law enforcement in sanctuary jurisdictions as part of their new nullification Confederacy. Oh, and let's give them taxpayer-funded health care while we're at it.

Even President Obama's Homeland Security secretary, Jeh Johnson, noted the insanity of his fellow Democrats' position, noting, "This is tantamount to a public declaration (repeated and amplified by smugglers in Central America) that our borders are effectively open to all; this will increase the recent levels of monthly apprehensions at our southern border."

You think? For today's woke Democratic Party, that's not a bug. It's the feature. They see these illegal invaders as future Democrat voters.

Recommended Democrat slogan: "Let's make America a more tolerant crime-infested third-world hellhole. Hey, don't blame us...we need those votes."

Republicans should ruthlessly and persistently take this issue to American voters in 2020, especially in the suburbs. Suburban mothers who may be uneasy at the tone of some of President Trump's tweets, particularly as spun by the media, will be downright horrified at the reality that Democrats are regularly tossing rapists, drug-dealers, and murderers back into society to terrorize Americans. That Democrats are doing this while fantasizing about taking law-abiding Americans' guns shows just how unmoored from reality they have become.

The political ad almost writes itself. Start with all the Democrats raising their hands in support of open borders and taxpayer-funded health care for all noncitizens at the first debate (thank you, NBC). Say something to the effect that the same party that once nullified federal law to champion slavery during the Confederacy is now doing it again to place murderers and rapists above Americans. Show the staggering level of criminality being committed by these invaders. Then focus the weight of the ad showing the repeat child rapists and murderers whom Democrats thought wise to release back into society, vice handing over to federal law enforcement to face justice or deportation. Finish by putting it in context with a personal story.

Blanket the airwaves in every suburb in America with this message. A slight variation on the ad can be run in the cities to show how the Democrats are putting foreign invaders above minority voters and failing to protect all Americans.

The Democrat leaders, following the leftward lurch of their voters, now either believe or pretend that hardened criminals are the good guys and courageous policemen and ICE agents are the bad guys. In short, they are both spiritually sick and completely insane. Republicans must get that message out through the media blockade to every American.

Fletch Daniels blogs at deplorabletouchdown.com and can be found on Twitter at @fletchdaniels.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr.