UPDATED: Trump to Crack Down on Sanctuary Cities

BALTIMORE, MD — President Donald Trump is cracking down on cities that shield illegal immigrants, the White House announced Wednesday. The federal government will withhold federal funds from local governments that offer sanctuary to illegal immigrants.

So-called sanctuary cities do not turn undocumented immigrants over to federal officials for deportation. Most sanctuary cities and counties have also passed laws preventing local government employees from providing information to immigration officials.

Baltimore City has had an executive order in place since 2012 that prohibits police from participating in civil immigration activities.

Charm City's order is expected to remain intact with the current administration. Mayor Catherine Pugh said Baltimore will "continue to be a welcoming city," according to The Baltimore Sun.

That's because Trump's executive order will "strip federal grant money from states and cities that harbor illegal immigrants," Spicer said. "We'll prioritize the prosecution and deportation of illegal immigrants who have otherwise violated our laws."

The action against sanctuary jurisdictions is expected to be one part of a series of executive orders on immigration issues that will be unveiled over a couple of days — the most notable of which will be an order formally moving forward with Trump's campaign promise to build a wall on the Mexican border.

"We will be in a form reimbursed by Mexico, which I've always said," Trump told ABC News on Wednesday.

Trump is also expected to impose visa restrictions for people from the Middle East and suspend the program that admits refugees into the United States.

Baltimore's Stance on Undocumented Immigrants

In Baltimore, former Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake issued an executive order in 2012 preventing police from inquiring as to a person's citizenship status and prohibiting them from participating in immigration enforcement activities. This does not mean local law enforcement agencies will not investigate, arrest or prosecute undocumented immigrants for non-immigration crimes.

Rawlings-Blake issued the mandate five years ago to combat discrimination, to encourage victims to feel safe reporting crimes and to honor Baltimore's heritage as a city where first and second-generation immigrants made up a quarter of the population in the 1920s, according to the order.

While it is the cities - such as Baltimore, Seattle, New York, San Francisco, and Chicago - that tend to get the most attention, it is often counties, which usually run the jails, that have real power to protect immigrants.

Sources say that the most likely target of funding would be the various grants given to local governments through the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security. The two departments administer billions in grants - many of which go to law enforcement agencies in the more than 300 cities and counties that have declared themselves sanctuary cities.

— By Colin Miner (Patch Staff) and Elizabeth Janney

Photo via The White House