President Trump is cracking down on sanctuary cities.
The President signed an executive order Wednesday afternoon aimed at “Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States” that puts the Office of Management and Budget in charge of providing information about “Federal grant money that currently is received by any sanctuary jurisdiction.” The order stipulates that any cities that refuse to cooperate with Federal immigration enforcement agents “are not eligible to receive Federal grants, except as deemed necessary for law enforcement purposes by the Attorney General or the Secretary.”
The move came on a day when President Trump delivered on other campaign promises, such as building a border wall and halting the flow of refugees from countries like Syria.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said at the daily press briefing: “We’re going to strip federal grant money from the sanctuary states and cities that harbor illegal immigrants” and said that immigration enforcement is a “a multi-tier, multi-step” process. Spicer also pointed out that sending federal money to cities that choose to not cooperate with federal immigration law enforcement is unfair to taxpayers.
According to the Washington Post, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement compliance report obtained by the Immigrant Legal Resource Center showed that, in the 168 counties across America where most of the USA’s estimated 11 million illegal immigrants live, 69 counties refuse federal requests to hold arrestees in jail due to their immigration status.
In his effort to force cities to cooperate with federal law enforcement and protect American sovieegntry, President Trump may have allies at the state level, as USA Today reports:
Help won’t be hard to find. Republicans in Congress, including Rep. Duncan Hunter of California and Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, have tried in recent years to pass laws establishing those kinds of cuts, but they always faced a veto threat from Obama. Republicans filed similar bills this week, and those have a far better chance of becoming law now that Republicans control both Congress and the White House.
Rosemary Jenks, director of government relations for NumbersUSA, which favors lower immigration levels, said it’s impossible to know how nasty the fight will get over sanctuary cities given the raw emotions on both sides. “I’m not going to rule anything out,” she said.
As Breitbart News has reported, mayors of major cities such as New York City, Seattle, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Chicago have vowed to keep their sanctuary city policies intact.
Follow Breitbart News investigative reporter and Citizen Journalism School founder Lee Stranahan on Twitter at @Stranahan.
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