Stripping sanctuary cities of federal funds will be done on a “case-by-case” basis, according to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary John Kelly.
Kelly spoke to the House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security, according to Reuters, and clarified how defunding sanctuary city jurisdictions would actually work after President Donald Trump said he would cut all federal funds to the locales.
“If we are specifically giving grants for cooperation on the removal of illegal aliens and the department or city is no longer doing that, it seems irresponsible to me to continue giving them the money, but it will be case by case,” Kelly told the committee.
Trump’s executive order on sanctuary cities exempted local police forces from seeing their federal funds cut, but it gave Kelly authority to review federal funds for sanctuary jurisdictions that deal with healthcare and education.
Also in his executive order, Trump called for 5,000 new hires with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency and another 10,000 agents for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.
Kelly, though, told the Committee he did not believe he would be able to hire the new 15,000 total agents within the next two years, stating that he would not “skip on training and standards” just to speed up the hiring process.
Additionally, Kelly said the U.S.-Mexico Border would be “well under way” within two years, saying it would include some fencing where necessary.
John Binder is a contributor for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
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