Washington threatens to stop funding ‘sanctuary’ areas
The US Department of Justice has threatened to clamp down on so-called “sanctuary cities,” saying it would cut off their funding if they refuse to comply with federal immigration authorities.
The department said Friday that it would stop providing financial support for those states, cities and counties which refuse to hand over undocumented immigrants suspected of crime.
The state of California; New York City; Chicago; Philadelphia; Clark County, Nevada; New Orleans; Miami Dade County, Florida, and Milwaukee County, Wisconsin received the department’s warnings.
Cook County, Illinois, was also threatened, although it did not get money from the Justice Department in 2016.
In general, "sanctuary cities" offer safe harbor to undocumented immigrants and often advance the enforcement of federal immigration laws without municipal funds or resources.
The majority of these localities say they have no funding or space to hold illegal immigrants until federal agents can take custody of them.
Meanwhile, some of the localities’ officials argue that they are complying with immigration laws, saying that they would continue to resist federal pressure.
“We're not going to cave to these threats," Milwaukee County Supervisor Marina Dimitrijevic said, pledging to begin a legal fight if the money is pulled.
"Milwaukee County has its challenges but they are not caused by illegal immigration. My far greater concern is the proactive dissemination of misinformation, fear, and intolerance," said Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele.
The Justice Department said communities, such as Chicago and New York, are "crumbling under the weight of illegal immigration and violent crime."
However, New York City currently has its lowest crime levels in decades and with respect to Chicago, experts believe that its recent rise in violent crime has little to do with illegal immigration.
"New York is the safest big city in the country, with crime at record lows in large part because we have policies in place to encourage cooperation between NYPD and immigrant communities," said Seth Stein, a spokesman for New York City mayor Bill de Blasio.
President Donald Trump has pledged to deport millions of undocumented immigrants and keep Latin American immigrants from illegally entering the country by making a wall on the border with Mexico.
His most controversial anti-immigration plan so far has been a travel ban against the citizens of several Muslim countries for which he has signed two executive orders but both were blocked by federal judges.
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