Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Giménez has instructed county jails to comply with all federal immigration detainer requests on Thursday, only one day after President Donald Trump issued an executive order to cut federal funding from sanctuary cities.
In 2016, the county ignored approximately 100 detainer requests from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which would have cost the county about $52,000 to implement, according to the Miami Herald.
According to a report from the non-partisan Center for Immigration Studies, Miami-Dade County refused to honor 771 detainer requests from January 1, 2014, to September 30, 2015. That’s at least 871 illegal aliens allowed to remain in the U.S., including 575 with criminal records.
The mayor decided it made no financial sense to risk losing $355 million in federal funding during 2017 to protect illegal aliens with criminal records.
“I want to make sure we don’t put in jeopardy the millions of funds we get from the federal government for a $52,000 issue,” Giménez said. “It doesn’t mean that we’re going to be arresting more people. It doesn’t mean that we’re going to be enforcing any immigration laws,” he added.
There’s an enormous amount of federal funding at stake: The largest, top-ten sanctuary cities stand to lose some $2.27 billion in federal funds in 2017 if they refuse to comply with federal immigration officers seeking to deport illegal aliens, Reuters found.