Illegal Aliens Are Congregating in Sanctuary Cities, Study Shows

More than 10 percent of the illegal aliens living in the United States congregate in seven sanctuary cities.

New York City tops the list with 525,000 migrants living illegally in the sanctuary jurisdictions. The Daily Wire cites a February Pew Research Center report showing the Big Apple is followed by Los Angeles with 375,000, Chicago with 140,000, Denver with 55,000, and Boston and San Francisco with 35,000 each. These seven sanctuary cities account for more than 10 percent of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S.

The mayors of these cities joined with dozens of other sanctuary city leaders this week for a “Cities Day of Immigration Action,” Breitbart Texas’ Lana Shadwick reported. The mayors pledged a list of feel-good commitments stating they will:

• Hold an in-person event such as a local press conference, town hall, roundtable or “Know Your Rights” forum
• Pass a city resolution, proclamation, ordinance or other official document commemorating the day
• Send out a press release
• Pen an op-ed
• Amplify your activities via social media using #MayorsStand4All

Austin, Texas, Mayor Steve Adler joined with the other sanctuary mayors tweeting, “Mayors Celebrate Immigrants While Facing ICE’s New ‘Non-Cooperative’ City List.”

Austin is the county seat for Travis County which led the nation in the release of criminal aliens according to the first week’s report from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials reported by Breitbart Texas.

ICE officials listed most of the cities above as releasing criminal aliens who are subjects of immigration hold requests from immigration officers.

The Trump Administration is cracking down on criminal aliens through targeted law enforcement operations across the country. Over the past two months, hundreds of criminal aliens have been arrested and removed from the country.

In February, one ICE enforcement action in New York City landed 41 criminal aliens in jail, Breitbart Texas’ John Binder reported. Those arrested include gang members, child rapists, sex offenders, drunk drivers, and drug distributors.

Later that month, New York City released an MS-13 gang member after they arrested him for disorderly conduct. The release followed an immigration hold request by ICE officials. ICE immigration officers hunted down the gang member after the city released him and placed him under arrest.

“This man is by his own admission a member of a violent street gang, and he was released back into the community,” New York Field Office Director Thomas Decker said in a statement.

When ICE officials pleaded with Mayor Bill de Blasio to change his sanctuary policy, the mayor responded by issuing an order blocking ICE officers from entering New York City public schools, Breitbart News’ Mona Salama reported this week.

The Daily Wire’s Aaron Bandler concluded:

Trump ran as an [sic] law-and-order candidate; so far he is following through on that with regard to sanctuary cities. But since a lot of the mayors of sanctuary cities are going to fight him tooth-and-nail to keep their dangerous policies in place, the president better be ready to use every legal tool at his disposal to crack down on them in order to ensure the safety of the American people.

The Department of Justice Office of Inspector General certified many of the cities listed above as sanctuary cities, making them ineligible for federal law enforcement grants for the coming year, Breitbart Texas reported. During the last fiscal year, New York City received more than $60 million in such grants. Chicago and its surrounding Cook County received more than $34 million in grants. After learning it could lose millions in federal grants this year, Miami-Dade County reversed its sanctuary policies, Breitbart News’ Katie McHugh reported.

“It is not just future funds that are at risk for these sanctuary jurisdictions,” U.S. Representative John Culberson told Breitbart Texas in December. “The DOJ can force them to reimburse funds received from these grant programs in the past. This means the State of California could be forced to repay the more than $3 billion in grants received over the past 10 years.”

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.