Trump Cracks Down on Sanctuary Cities With Sweeping Executive Orders

On Monday, President Donald Trump signed executive orders to begin a sweeping crackdown on "sanctuary" jurisdictions. The orders are aimed at incentivizing these jurisdictions to cancel their sanctuary policies and to withhold federal funding if they fail to do so.

One order the 78-year-old inked behind closed doors in the Oval Office gives Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem 30 days to draw up a list of cities and states that “obstruct the enforcement of federal immigration laws.”
“Immediately following each publication… the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall notify each sanctuary jurisdiction regarding its defiance of Federal immigration law enforcement and any potential violations of Federal criminal law,” it instructs.
After that, federal agencies will scour their books for any funding — including grants and contracts — to revoke in coordination with the White House Office of Management and Budget.

The executive does have some power of the purse, but there will be a protracted legal battle; we can count on that much. If there's one thing the nation has no shortage of, it is activist judges who will risk their careers to protect illegal aliens.

Here's the part I like:

Two other parts of the order mandate the feds verify that illegal immigrants are not receiving public benefits — such as Social Security, food stamps, or disability pay — and override state and local laws deemed to favor “aliens over any groups of American citizens.”
One example cited in the order is the practice by some states of charging illegal migrants lower tuition to attend public colleges and universities than out-of-state American citizens.

It seems well beyond obvious that someone in the United States illegally, a fugitive by any sane definition of the term, should be ineligible for any taxpayer-funded benefits. Oh, we can exclude life-or-death emergency medical treatment; we're not savages. But Social Security, SNAP, disability, or any other government benefits? No.

Tom Homan Drops a Big 'Find Out' Warning on Those—'Including Judges'—Who Obstruct ICE

At some point, there will have to be a judicial reckoning on this practice of "sanctuary" jurisdictions. A local or state government cannot ignore or actively interfere with federal agents in the course of their legal duties; that's what sanctuary jurisdictions, by definition, do. They are, in effect, in a low-level rebellion against the federal government. This is an issue that, in time, will almost certainly end up at the Supreme Court.

What might happen then is anyone's guess; the court's rulings in immigration lately have had a distinct "kick the can down the road" feel.

This is one of, if not the, issue that put Donald Trump back in the White House. This is a fight that has to be fought. With these orders, once the 30-day evaluation is done and the federal funds start getting yanked, the Trump administration has fired another broadside. The next step will be observing the fall of the shot and seeing how the other side responds.

On Monday, my colleague Nick Arama noted some of the announcements on immigration policy that seem to be leading up to these EOs.

There is a unverified quote often attributed to Lord Nelson, but it applies to President Trump:

Never mind the maneuvers, just go straight at them.

Here, with these EOs, we have another example of the president doing precisely that.

Thanks to President Trump, illegal immigration into our great country has virtually stopped. Despite the radical left's lies, new legislation wasn't needed to secure our border, just a new president.

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