Chicago among ‘sanctuary cities' targeted by Trump executive order

After a San Francisco judge blocked President Donald Trump from defunding 16 sanctuary cities, his administration says it is taking a new approach with a new executive order.

That order, expected to be signed Monday, will now require Attorney General Pam Bondi to compile a nationwide list of sanctuary cities and states.

The move escalates Trump’s campaign against mostly Democratic-led cities and states that he has argued are standing in the way of the mass deportations that his administration has promised.

“It will direct the attorney general, Pam Bondi, to provide a list of sanctuary cities back to the administration. If those sanctuary cities are breaking federal law, then the Office of Management and Budget is going to look at their federal spending,” said White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt at a briefing this morning for podcasters and social media influencers. “If you are defying federal law, you are threatening your own federal spending by doing that."

The Trump administration has repeatedly threatened to withdraw federal funding from Chicago and other cities who do not fully cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal authorities.

“Cities are being threatened by the federal government to withdraw resources that ultimately will hurt our cities,” said Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. “That is the type of administration we are dealing with.”

Johnson’s comments came as he hosted a special meeting of the US Conference of Mayors on Public Safety. Among those also speaking out, Fresno California Mayor Jerry Dyer, who worries that standing up for immigrants will cost cities like his.

“That’s going to be a challenge for us based on that jurisdiction being identified as a 'sanctuary city' when that city may not feel it’s a sanctuary city,” he said

Dyer said he doesn’t want his officers doing things the federal government should be doing like immigration enforcement.

Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said federal and city law enforcement must work together when it comes to things like drug trafficking, sex trafficking and violent crimes. But he said he worries that cooperation on immigration may create a climate of fear in the city’s undocumented population.

“When someone calls the police, we don’t care about their status. We don’t care about any of that. When you are calling us for help. We want to get there and give you the help,” he said.

The executive order would give the attorney general one month to come up with a list of cities she finds not to be following federal law before any funding would be cut.

But Johnson argues that is the opposite of what cities like Chicago need.

“Every single mayor across this country, we need our federal government to invest in our cities,” he said.

Previous efforts by Trump's earlier administration to withhold funding from sanctuary cities had been stopped by the Supreme Court, with justices dismissing the case and keeping California's funding intact.

Trump's administration has filed suit against Chicago, accusing officials of impeding immigration enforcement efforts, but Gov. J.B. Pritzker has pushed back against the idea that Illinois is violating any law.

"(The Illinois Trust Act) has always been compliant with federal law, and still is today," Pritzker said.

In Chicago, an ordinance prohibits agencies and police from assisting ICE agents in immigration enforcement actions, and ICE agents are also prohibited from using city facilities for investigations.

Illinois' law contains similar prohibitions.