Newly inaugurated President Donald Trump told his deputies on Monday to draft rules to deny taxpayer funds to so-called “sanctuary” cities and NGOs — Non-Governmental Organizations — that support illegal migrants.
Among his long list of executive orders (EOs) was one entitled “Protecting the American People Against Invasion,” aimed squarely at sanctuary jurisdictions.
In section 17 of this EO, for instance, Trump sent a shot over the bow of “sanctuary jurisdictions” to warn them that they had better not interfere with legal federal law enforcement actions or risk losing federal dollars.
“The Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall, to the maximum extent possible under law, evaluate and undertake any lawful actions to ensure that so-called ‘sanctuary’ jurisdictions, which seek to interfere with the lawful exercise of Federal law enforcement operations, do not receive access to Federal funds,” section 17 states.
This section could impact cities such as Chicago and Denver, both of which have mayors who have loudly proclaimed their resistance to the incoming Trump administration’s highly popular policy of deporting criminal illegals.
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, for instance, vowed in November to use his city police force as his personal shock troops to physically prevent Immigration and Customs Enforcement from doing their jobs. Trump, though, is sending a warning flare that Johnston and others better rethink their plans.
In a second clause, the order also warns officials of “sanctuary” areas that they risk being arrested for that interference.
“Further, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall evaluate and undertake any other lawful actions, criminal or civil, that they deem warranted based on any such jurisdiction’s practices that interfere with the enforcement of Federal law,” the Trump order states.
This isn’t the only measure warning sanctuary jurisdictions about the folly of opposing federal laws. Section 19 of Trump’s EO directs the U.S. Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security to review all contracts with the non-profits and non-governmental organizations that cater to illegal migrants that also get federal dollars.
Section 19 orders an “immediate review” and audit of “all contracts, grants, or other agreements providing Federal funding to non-governmental organizations supporting or providing services, either directly or indirectly, to removable or illegal aliens” to make sure the groups getting that federal aid are putting in place policies that hew to U.S. immigration laws.
The section authorizes the feds to “pause distribution” of said funding if the practices of these NGOs violate federal immigration laws. It also calls on the government to terminate agreements if they are found to violate law or are “sources of waste, fraud, or abuse.” The section also requires the feds to “Initiate clawback or recoupment procedures” for those misspent funds.
The two sections are aimed at convincing cities and states to put an end to so-called “sanctuary” policies, as it is already well known that federal dollars have been spent on allowing illegal aliens to stay in the U.S.A.
For example, in 2023, Chicago’s Democrat Mayor Brandon Johnson redirected $95 million in federal COVID-19 funding to be used for his programs for migrants.
But Chicago was hardly alone in this misuse of COVID funding. The city of Madison, Wisconsin, did the same thing by using $700,000 in pandemic funding for the relief of migrants. The Democrats in Washington state did something similar in 2020 by diverting $240 million to migrants, as did a slew of other jurisdictions, including Denver, Boston, New Jersey, and many others.
With the new EOs, Trump is firmly saying enough is enough.
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