wsj.com Donald Trump, ‘Sanctuary City’ Mayors Set to Clash Over Immigration Policies
Scott Calvert, Alejandro Lazo and Jon Kamp
Updated Jan. 25, 2017 7:03 p.m. ET
Leaders of major U.S. cities like Boston, New York and San Francisco are on a collision course with the Trump administration over immigration policy after the president signed an order to cut off federal funds to those cities that shelter illegal immigrants.
On Wednesday, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee stood by the city’s policy of protecting immigrants within its borders. “I believe in our sanctuary-city status, I think there are hundreds of mayors all over this country that are saying the same thing,” Mr. Lee, a Democrat, said.
In New York City, Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio set aside more funds in reserve, anticipating cutbacks from Washington. Mr. de Blasio said that Mr. Trump’s order “is going to be very destructive to this city” and added that it would “undermine law enforcement’s ability to protect” New York.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, a Democrat, said he rejected the label of a sanctuary city, saying Los Angeles complies with “constitutional detainer requests” but doesn’t ask local police to enforce federal immigration laws, a 40-year-old policy.
“That is for everyone’s good, because trust between police and the people they serve is absolutely essential to effective law enforcement,” Mr. Garcetti said. He added that cutting funding to cities puts national security at risk.
The mayors of Boston and nearby Somerville, Mass., said Wednesday that they were willing to forgo federal funds, which nationally reach in the hundreds of millions of dollars, rather than change the way their cities treat immigrants.
Joseph Curtatone, the Democratic mayor of Somerville, called the federal threat a “ransom,” and estimated his city of about 80,000 receives up to $12 million a year through a combination of direct grants and money funneled through the state.
“Somerville is not going to waver,” the mayor said. “We’re going to stand by our neighbors, our colleagues, the people who go to school with our children”
During the presidential campaign, sanctuary-city policies became a galvanizing issue for Mr. Trump’s supporters as the candidate sought to draw a link between unauthorized immigration to the U.S. and crime. Numerous studies have shown that newly arrived immigrants are less likely to commit crimes or to be incarcerated.
The executive order, which the president signed Wednesday, makes it federal policy to have state and local agencies serve as immigration forces. It also requires U.S. officials to ensure that sanctuary cities “are not eligible to receive federal grants, except as deemed necessary for law enforcement purposes” and gives Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly authority to designate a city as a “sanctuary jurisdiction.”
Some localities actively join with federal authorities, and some have aggressively pursued undocumented immigrants through their own programs. A spokesperson for Milwaukee County, Wis., Sheriff David Clarke Jr. said his department will continue to work with federal agents to enforce federal immigration laws. Sheriff Clarke, a Democrat who supported Mr. Trump during the presidential campaign and spoke at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland last summer, wasn't available for further comment Wednesday.
Sanctuary policies vary by city. Typically, local police refrain from helping federal authorities identify undocumented immigrants for deportation, unless they have committed serious crimes. Philadelphia, for example, won’t cooperate with requests to hold someone unless the person has committed a first- or second-degree felony involving violence.
Philadelphia isn’t taking any immediate action in response to the president’s order. A spokeswoman for Democratic Mayor Jim Kenney said because the “Trump administration hasn’t even identified yet what federal grant funding they think they could cut, nothing about the city’s policy is changing as of today.”
While Mr. Trump has limited power to strip federal funding from these cities without the express approval of Congress, he could have more leeway to suspend or slow the allocation of discretionary grants, particularly those related to criminal justice and dispensed by the Justice Department or the Department of Homeland Security.
George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said hundreds of millions of dollars of federal funding pass through agencies such as the Justice Department to cities.
“These cities rely heavily on federal support, particularly with regard to the criminal justice system,” Mr. Turley said. “The Trump administration can move quickly to cut off funds and leave cities with serious shortfalls in their programs.”
Since 2014, all California counties must follow a state law that limits immigration “hold” requests in local jails. On Tuesday, Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown said the state would defend that law, along with several others enacted to protect undocumented immigrants. “We will defend everybody—every man, woman and child—who has come here for a better life and has contributed to the well-being of our state,” Mr. Brown said in a speech.
California pre-emptively hired former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to help in future legal battles with the Trump administration. On Wednesday, State Senate Leader Kevin de León said the state would “explore all of our legal options” and called the sanctuary cities measure “unconstitutional.”
“It’s not the job of our local and county and state law enforcement to turn the cogs of President Trump’s deportation machine,” Mr. de León, a Democrat, said.
Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, a Democrat, said Wednesday was “the darkest day in immigration history in America” since Japanese Americans were interned in camps during World War II.
“Seattle has been here before, we have experienced this dark history before, and we have no intention of going back there again,” Mr. Murray said.
—Mara Gay contributed to this article.
Write to Scott Calvert at scott.calvert@wsj.com, Alejandro Lazo at alejandro.lazo@wsj.com and Jon Kamp at jon.kamp@wsj.com
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