New Haven Mayor Questions Trump Sanctuary City Crackdown

Earlier this month, Toomey reintroduced his Stop Dangerous Sanctuary Cities Act, which died in July after failing to receive enough votes to break a Senate filibuster. The loss of federal funding which pays for things such as anti-terrorism efforts would also leave the city more vulnerable, said the mayor.

Dallas and Travis counties have expansive sanctuary policies, and have drawn threats of state funding cuts from Gov. Greg Abbott. Officials in these designated areas, including local law enforcement, are not allowed to enquire as to an individual’s immigration status in the course of their duties.

Mr Trump, in his inaugural address, took a more confrontational tone, and he appears ready to follow through with a policy that sets his conservative administration in a direct and highly visible confrontation with liberal cities. That came as Pittsburgh City Council began considering a plan to have its own sanctuary policy.

The numbers do not include federal money for law enforcement, which was excluded in the executive order, and programs like Medicaid, which are administered by state governments.

Police Commissioner James O’Neill and Mayor Bill de Blasio joined the argument Wednesday, saying that immigrants will be less likely to cooperate with law enforcement if they’re afraid of deportation. “Nothing about the city’s policy is changing as of today”, he said.

Rep. Joe Crowley (D-Queens), who joined the mayor at City Hall along with a host of city commissioners, called the President’s move a scary and unsafe one. Kelly was recently sworn into the post after being confirmed by the U.S. Senate, including affirmative votes by Washington Sens.

The city does have a list of 170 crimes and offenses for which it will cooperate with federal deportation authorities. “I think it’s, in some ways, unsafe to think you can pick and choose laws”.

On Wednesday, January 25, Mayor Mitch Landrieu released a public statement that denounced President Trump’s action. But each city has vowed some sort of protection to undocumented residents.

Though the city policy guides the actions of Spokane police officers, Spokane County is in charge of the jail where city inmates are house. Since Paul Ryan and friends still can’t enact a sensible immigration reform, many cities have quite sensibly decided not to spend millions of dollars enforcing a broken system that isn’t their responsibility in the first place.

McDermott said the impact of the president’s executive action is still being assessed, as well as any potential legal action the county might take.

Both the council speaker and the mayor said they would vigorously defend the city’s policies if funds are withheld. “And that is the vast majority of immigrants that are here”, she said. That measure could trigger a withdrawal of federal funds under Trump’s executive order.

Scott Johnson, a Twin Cities attorney and contributor to the conservative website Powerline, said he thinks Minneapolis and St. Paul have no business defying federal law as Trump is defining it, or as presidents have sought to define it for decades – like John F. Kennedy did in 1963. Trump has pegged Alabaman Sen.

“The relationship with our community, including the undocumented, is too important to us”, she said.