Trump revives push to cut federal funding for sanctuary cities and states

"Donald Trump has revived his stalled push to cut federal funding for a number of Democrat-run states, announcing that any with a perceived sanctuary city will not receive payments after 1 February. The president made the statement during a freewheeling address at the Detroit Economic Club on Tuesday night, shortly after he flipped off a heckler at a Ford plant in the city."

"Starting February 1, we are not making any payments to sanctuary cities or states having sanctuary cities because they do everything possible to protect criminals at the expense of American citizens, he said. Critics immediately called the move unconstitutional and immoral. Trump's previous efforts to use sanctuary cities, a loosely defined term for local jurisdictions that restrict cooperation with federal immigration authorities, as a tool to withhold money to political rivals have run into trouble."

Federal funding will be withheld from any sanctuary city and any state containing one starting February 1. Sanctuary cities are local jurisdictions that restrict cooperation with federal immigration authorities. A Justice Department list names 11 states and the District of Columbia, plus 18 cities and three counties, as materially impeding federal immigration enforcement. Critics labeled the withholding unconstitutional and immoral. A San Francisco district judge previously blocked a broader funding denial as coercive, and a federal appeals court is reviewing that ruling. The mayor of Chicago vowed to pursue legal action to contest the funding cutoff.

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