Trump Apparently Wants To Send Migrants To Sanctuary Cities To Embarrass His Rivals
President Donald Trump has done a lot of alarming things in his day, but this might take the cake. Donald Trump might send migrants to sanctuary cities, apparently to retaliate against his political rivals. Elite Daily reached out to the White House for comment on the report, but did not hear back by the time of publication.
The news comes on the heels of an April 11 report from The Washington Post claiming that Trump allegedly tried to send migrants to sanctuary cities twice. According to the report, Trump proposed the idea back in November of 2018, as a caravan carrying migrants who were fleeing violence in Central America approached the United States. White House officials reportedly reached out to several agencies via email to ask if those arrested at the border could be taken “to small- and mid-sized sanctuary cities,” which are places that refuse to aid in federal deportation efforts. The report didn't name any specific cities that were under consideration. The administration reportedly tried again in February of 2019, when Trump was caught up in a back-and-forth with Democrats over funding for his long-promised border wall with Mexico.
The ostensible reason for the move, per The Washington Post, was to relieve overcrowding in the immigration system by moving immigrants to shelters in certain cities, as well as to punish Democratic leaders of the cities. However, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reportedly raised concerns, noting that there were safety liability issues, budget issues, and the possibility of some seriously bad PR due to the the political nature of the move.
Trump later appeared to confirm the report in a set of tweets. "Due to the fact that Democrats are unwilling to change our very dangerous immigration laws, we are indeed, as reported, giving strong considerations to placing Illegal Immigrants in Sanctuary Cities only ... The Radical Left always seems to have an Open Borders, Open Arms policy – so this should make them very happy!" the tweets read.
The tweets appear to contradict the White House's previous statement on the matter. “This was just a suggestion that was floated and rejected, which ended any further discussion,” the White House said in a statement to The Washington Post.
"Sanctuary cities" are the colloquial term for cities which set limits on whether and how local law enforcement can help federal immigration enforcement. While the policies vary from locale to locale, they may include things like prohibitions on police stops solely to determine someone's immigration status, or policies against discrimination based on citizenship status. The goal, per CNN, is to protect immigrants not engaged in criminal activity from being detained or deported. Cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco — all of which are run by Democrats, in states that went blue in the last presidential election — identify as sanctuary cities. However, the president has often attacked sanctuary cities, calling them "threats to public safety and national security," and attempting to withdraw federal law enforcement funds or threatening legal action.
That's not even the start of headache-inducing news involving Trump this week. On April 8, sources told NBC News that he has been trying to revamp his "zero tolerance" policy, which was announced in April of 2018. Under the policy, any adult caught crossing into the United States without documentation faced prosecution, resulting in thousands of children being separated from their families. (The practice only ended after widespread outrage and protests that June.) Not only does Trump reportedly want it back, but he also wants to broaden the terms. According to the report, Trump reportedly wants families separated even if they cross into the United States through legal ports of entry or are asylum-seekers. Yikes. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) previously referred questions to the White House, which did not respond to Elite Daily's request for comment.
Though Trump has denied those reports, he appeared to lament the loss of the policy, telling members of the press on April 9:
Now I'll tell you something, once you don't have it that's why you have many more people coming. They are coming like it's a picnic, because 'Let's go to Disneyland.'
With that, it seems likely that we'll be hearing more on these topics soon. Rest up, friends.
