Showdown Looms Between Trump White House and Sanctuary Cities

Note to sanctuary cities: Your days of receiving federal dollars may be numbered. President-elect Donald Trump is poised to take the White House, riding on a vow to curtail illegal immigration and clamp down on funding for those cities in the nation that shelter illegals from the deportation storm.

And the Trump Effect could prove wide-reaching.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents reported that in the last month alone, 7,406 unaccompanied minor-aged immigrants and 15,573 Guatemalan, Honduras and El Salvadoran families were arrested at the border, a massive uptick from the same month in 2015. Then, the agency arrested 5,604 children and 6,471 families.

Why the surge?

Likely, because of the change in White House administration, and the message to illegals that President-elect Trump isn’t going to play as nice as Obama on opening border doors.

From Fox News:

“At the Southern border, agents are on pace to apprehend almost 600,000 illegal immigrants, the highest number in eight years. The surge is coming largely from Central American migrants, far outpacing those from Mexico.

“‘They’re mobilizing because they don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but know today they can cross,’ said Chris Cabrera, of the National Border Patrol Council.”

They’re also making the trek to America because of the awareness of the cities that provide sanctuary – cities like Los Angeles, where Mayor Eric Garcetti just announced the creation of a special fund, the L.A. Justice Fund, to provide lawyers and legal guidance to those illegals who face deportation from the federal authorities.

Garcetti said of the fund, Fox News reported: “The reason it was important for us to act is we will have a change in government next month. We expect there could be actions right away.”

That means bluntly the left believes Trump isn’t just talking a deportation talk – that he is really going to take action and clamp down on illegals in the country.

And Texas Rep. John Culberson outlined how quickly the Trump administration could take action on illegals.

From Fox, once again:

“Texas GOP Rep. John Culberson says federal law prohibits local and state law enforcement from refusing to share immigration status information with federal authorities. He believes the law will give Trump the power to follow through in denying funds to sanctuary cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago and New York.

“‘The president can cut off their money at noon on January 20, 2017 if they do not change their sanctuary policy and hand over criminal illegal aliens in their custody to be deported,’ Culberson told Fox News.

“Culberson, chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee overseeing the Department of Justice, added that President Obama’s attorney general not only is aware of the policy, but signed off on tying suspected violations to potential financial penalties.

“‘I quietly persuaded Attorney General Loretta Lynch to implement this new policy this past July,’ he said. ‘So it’s already done.’”

A clear message to illegals to stay home could save the taxpayer millions of dollars a month.

As Fox reported, the Immigration Reform Law Institute found taxpayers currently spend about $5 million each month, including $665 per juvenile, on travel or deportation costs for illegals.