Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that plans were in the works to deny all federal funding to cities that limit cooperation with immigration authorities.
“No more Sanctuary Cities! They protect the Criminals, not the Victims. They are disgracing our Country, and are being mocked all over the World,” Trump wrote on Thursday.
“Working on papers to withhold all Federal Funding for any City or State that allows these Death Traps to exist!!!” he added.
The sanctuary status for cities like Chicago, New York, Boston, and Denver prevents local authorities from holding criminal suspects beyond their release dates based solely on their immigration status.
Trump tried something similar in his first term, withholding some law enforcement grants from sanctuary cities. After a lower court rejected the plan, an appeals court ruled the Trump administration could withhold funds from New York City and seven states that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
This time, Trump means business. By withholding tens of billions of dollars in funding for dozens of federal programs earmarked for several major cities, he is threatening to upend the budgets of a dozen or more big cities and states like New York and Massachusetts.
A recently published Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) report reveals the scope of the challenge facing federal authorities from sanctuary cities.
- More than half of the declined detainers (52%) were refused by jails and prisons in California. The total number in California was 13,025.
- Illinois, Virginia, Massachusetts, and Connecticut also had especially large numbers of declined detainers.
- Detainers were declined by jails in 46 states and three U.S. territories (the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Northern Marianas). Many of these states have state laws prohibiting sanctuary policies.
- The jail with the highest number of declined detainers or insufficient notice to ICE was the main jail in Santa Clara County, Calif., which released nearly 3,000 criminal aliens during the period.
- Cook County Jail in Illinois and Fairfax County Adult Detention Center in Virginia each also released more than 1,000 criminal aliens during the period.
- A total of 72 criminal aliens with homicide convictions or charges were released during the period. The Illinois River Corrections Center and the Santa Clara County jails each released six convicted killers, and Stateville Correctional Center in Illinois released five.
"From October 1, 2022, to February 6, 2025, more than 25,000 detainers were declined by these jails, and in more than 1,400 instances, the jails failed to give adequate notification to ICE to take custody of the aliens," the ICE report states.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) states the obvious: if sanctuary cities would cooperate with ICE, we'd all be a lot safer.
If sanctuary cities were to simply communicate and work with federal immigration authorities, then federal agents could arrest criminal illegal aliens in a secure environment like State or local jails. Instead, they have to risk their own safety and public safety by having to go into uncertain, dangerous circumstances to make arrests.
Sanctuary cities make us all less safe and are a public safety nightmare.
Congress is considering a bill that would strip cities and states of federal funding for non-cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
The funding targeted under H.R. 32 threatens the well-being of all community members, including U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, as many essential programs are provided without consideration of legal status and therefore benefit both undocumented people and those with lawful status and U.S. citizens. These programs include the National School Lunch Program, Meals on Wheels, Head Start, public transit, disaster response services, and more. There are also several programs that benefit U.S. citizen children who may have at least one undocumented parent, like food stamps and Medicaid, which arguably could be covered by this provision.
During Trump’s first term, courts repeatedly blocked DOJ’s efforts to halt crime-related federal grants to sanctuary cities, ruling that the Attorney General lacked the authority to impose additional conditions. H.R. 32 would not only grant that authority but expand it dramatically, tilting the power balance in favor of the federal government over states and cities.
"Under its broad definition, 'sanctuary' would include any state, county, or city that either limits communication with DHS or restricts the use of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers or notifications of release to ICE," says the pro-illegal alien website.
It's undeniable that sanctuary cities are protecting criminal illegal aliens. The ICE report quoted above suggests it's not an insignificant number. The resistance by sanctuary cities to enforcing the law is not based on morality or "compassion." It's based on political expediency. A certain segment of a city's population endorses the idea of a sanctuary city, and big-city mayors don't want to lose their support.
Otherwise, it makes total sense to rid a big city of a significant criminal element.
