President Trump signs order threatening sanctuary cities with funding cuts

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday that directs the U.S. Attorney General’s Office to publish a list of states and cities it believes are obstructing enforcement of federal immigration laws, part of an effort to get tough on so-called sanctuary jurisdictions.

That order threatens those places with funding cuts for what Trump deemed their defiance, and promises legal action, if necessary, to make them comply.

A second order outlines broad reforms aimed at protecting local law-enforcement officers.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a Monday briefing that one order would “strengthen and unleash America’s law enforcement to pursue criminals and protect innocent citizens,” while the second was aimed at “protecting American communities from criminal aliens.”

Trump’s order said some state and local officials were using their authority to violate and defy enforcement of immigration laws, what he called “a lawless insurrection against the supremacy of federal law and the federal government’s obligation to defend the territorial sovereignty of the United States.” He suggested they were creating “intolerable national security risks” and potentially violating federal criminal statutes.

Trump has said for months that he was working on an order to direct the government to pull federal funding from so-called sanctuary cities, typically defined as places that limit law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The news raises immediate questions around the potential impact on Philadelphia and other Pennsylvania jurisdictions.

The definition of a sanctuary city varies, so it’s unclear which cities Trump’s executive order could target.

Philadelphia has traditionally been among the strongest of sanctuary cities, fighting and winning a federal lawsuit over funding, kicking ICE out of a law-enforcement database, and directing city employees not to inquire about residents’ immigration status.

City officials have refused to comply with requests from ICE to detain prisoners based on their immigration status, requiring federal authorities to submit a warrant signed by a judge. That policy remains in place, the city solicitor said in January.

On Monday, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker affirmed that the city still operates under the 2016 executive order enacted under her predecessor, Jim Kenney, but then, as has been her practice, pivoted to saying she was focused on her own agenda.

“Right now, we remain laser-focused on doing everything in our power on a daily basis to stay focused on achieving the goal,” the mayor said, “and I promised people of our city that I wouldn’t let anyone or anything get in the way of my commitment to making Philadelphia safer, cleaner, greener with access to economic opportunity for all, because that’s what the people that the city of Philadelphia sent me here to do.”

Parker did not use the term “sanctuary city” in speaking. She said she would not comment in more detail until Trump makes concrete moves that affect Philadelphia.

“If there is any forthcoming information that the city of Philadelphia receives, we will research it,” she said, “but I will not be commenting on geometric if-then statements. If any formal activity occurs, we will respond.”

Philadelphia in the last fiscal year received $2.2 billion in federal funding, accounting for nearly a fifth of its total spending, with much of the money going toward health and social services programs.

“People like sanctuary cities, because they keep families together, they uphold the Constitution,” said Peter Pedemonti, co-director of New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia. “You know what people don’t like? They don’t like dictators.”

Judges and cities are standing up to the president, and “his response right now is a list? That’s weak,” Pedemonti said. “It’s a moment right now for Philadelphia leadership to learn that staying quiet and not wanting to poke the bear is a bad strategy.”

The statewide impact of the order is unknown, though many jurisdictions across Pennsylvania have similar policies to Philadelphia. Several anti-immigration groups put the number of sanctuary jurisdictions in Pennsylvania at around a dozen.

Across the river, New Jersey’s status as a “sanctuary state” has emerged as a major issue in the race to win the governorship. One Democratic candidate — South Jersey’s Steve Sweeney — has joined all of the Republican candidates who’ll say they’ll end the policy of limiting cooperation with federal enforcement.

Trump’s new sanctuary-city action, first reported on by the Wall Street Journal, which obtained a copy of the executive order before its release Monday evening, tasks the attorney general and the secretary of Homeland Security with identifying a list of “sanctuary jurisdictions” within a month. The cities and states on the list could face a cutoff in federal funding and possible criminal and civil suits if they refuse to change their policies or laws.

Trump campaigned on the promise to defund sanctuary cities, and the orders he signed Monday land around the 100-day mark of his administration.

Sen. Dave McCormick (R., Pa.) said Monday that Trump has “every right” to withhold federal funding from sanctuary cities who do not change their policies, calling the executive order a “sound decision.”

“This is not a new idea or policy,” McCormick said during a news conference at Hanwha Philly Shipyard. “It’s what the president campaigned on. It’s what I campaigned on, and they’ve had ample opportunity to make those adjustments.”

The White House’s Leavitt said the situation is simple — “obey the law, respect the law, and don’t obstruct federal immigration officials and law-enforcement officials when they are simply trying to remove public safety threats from our nation’s communities.”

Sanctuary jurisdictions, mostly run by Democrats, maintain that they absolutely follow the law.

But they don’t obey ICE-issued commands to hold people in jail after a judge says they should be released — which has cost taxpayers’ money in legal settlements. And they direct their police officers to work enforcing local laws and assisting local residents, not helping federal officers do their jobs.

The term “sanctuary city” is in many ways a misnomer. Undocumented immigrants in Philadelphia, for instance, receive no greater protection from law-enforcement than anywhere else. Those who commit crimes can be arrested and jailed like anyone else.

Some places choose to actively assist ICE, primarily through a controversial program known as “287(g), where local police agencies work on immigration enforcement.

The Bucks County Sheriff’s Department is seeking to join the program, becoming the first in the Philadelphia region to collaborate with ICE.

“Those who break the law should face the consequences of their actions — regardless of immigration status,” Bucks Sheriff Fred Harran said in a statement, adding that the program better protects the community by bolstering overall law-enforcement capacity.

Partnerships between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local police agencies have surged since Trump was elected in November. As of Monday, 506 law-enforcement agencies in 38 states have signed agreements.

The White House lawn was lined Monday morning with the mug shots of arrested and deported undocumented criminals migrants that cited their alleged criminal convictions or charges. Border czar Tom Homan joined Leavitt at the news conference to tout the administration’s success in decreasing border crossings.

But the administration’s aggressive policies have drawn mixed reviews. Immigration enforcement is still the issue on which Trump polled highest in a recent New York Times poll, but his approval has waned, with 51% of voters disapproving.

Sanctuary cities have become an increasingly volatile political issue and a vulnerability for Democrats, who are working to regain voters who believe the party is soft on immigration.

In few places has the issue played out more publicly and aggressively than in Philadelphia, reaching back to Trump’s first term and the contentious relationship between him and Kenney. The Kenney administration fought and won a major federal lawsuit that stopped Trump from withholding grant money as a means to pressure the city to have its police help enforce federal immigration laws.

Kenney was notably captured on video after the court victory, dancing a jig and singing out, “Sanctuary city!” His administration didn’t stop there, kicking ICE out of a database it believed the agency was using to find undocumented immigrants, and barring city employees from asking residents about their immigration status.

Parker has taken a much quieter stance, foregoing public opportunities to embrace sanctuary status while noting that Kenney’s 2016 order on ICE detainers remains in place.

That order directs city law-enforcement officers to obey ICE detainers only if they are accompanied by a signed judicial warrant.

ICE maintains that its agency-issued detainers are valid legal documents and must be followed by local jurisdictions.

Leaders in the city’s immigrant communities say they’re concerned that Parker has not spoken out more forcefully, that people could be made vulnerable at a moment when Trump is promising to deport millions of immigrants.

Last week a federal judge in San Francisco blocked Trump from withholding federal funding from more than a dozen so-called sanctuary jurisdictions that have declined to cooperate with the Republican’s hard-line stance.

U.S. District Judge William Orrick issued an injunction at the request of 16 cities and counties around the country, who alleged that the Trump administration was unlawfully trying to force local officials to cooperate with federal immigration agents.

The news comes as more than 40 immigrant organizations plan to rally in Philadelphia on Thursday, demanding that a federal appeals court uphold a 2021 New Jersey ban on ICE detention contracts.

Groups led by The New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice intend to gather outside of the Third Circuit Court, calling for the court to uphold a 2021 state law that helped prompt the closure of three county-run detention centers.

CoreCivic, the big private prison company, challenged the constitutionality of the ban, and the initial ruling struck down the provisions that regulated detention contracts. The appeal is scheduled to be heard on Thursday.

The order on sanctuary cities “is yet another act of defiance against cities and localities that have jurisdiction over their own local ordinances,” said Amy Torres, executive director of the Alliance for Immigrant Justice. But now as in Trump’s first term, she noted, courts have stepped in to block or modify many of the president’s orders.

“The executive orders make it seem like [Trump officials] are doing more than they are,” she said. “A checklist? It feels more like busywork.”

This new order follows Trump’s January directive that freed ICE agents to enter churches and schools, places that were generally off-limits under the agency’s “sensitive locations” policy.

During Trump’s first administration, more than a dozen migrants took sanctuary inside Philadelphia churches, the most of any city in the country, blocking their deportations by putting themselves beyond the reach of ICE agents.

At the White House early Monday, Homan appealed to undocumented immigrants to self-deport or face prosecution. About 13 million undocumented people live in the United States, including an estimated 47,000 in Philadelphia.

Staff writers Fallon Roth and Sean Collins Walsh contributed to this article.