Trump Cracks Down on Sanctuary Jurisdictions as HoCo Considers Becoming One

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday cracking down on the more than 300 "sanctuary" cities that shield undocumented immigrants, withholding federal funds from jurisdictions with such designations. He signed the executive order during a ceremony at the Department of Homeland Security.

"Sanctuary" cities and counties do not turn over undocumented immigrants to federal officials for deportation. Most sanctuary cities and counties have also passed laws preventing employees from providing information to immigration officials.

Trump's executive order comes as the Howard County Council considers a bill that would declare the jurisdiction a sanctuary county, where federal immigration laws are not enforced. The bill states Howard County employees would be prohibited from asking about citizenship, nationality or immigration status.

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

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Trump's sanctuary cities-related order reinstates an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) program known as Secure Communities, under which ICE would target undocumented immigrants.

The order also directs the State Department to take whatever steps necessary to make countries take undocumented immigrants back — including withholding visas to people from that country.

The mandate stipulates that federal funds will be withheld from cities and counties that don't cooperate with immigration officials. The order does not specify which funds will be withheld, saying only federal funds will be withheld except those required by law for law enforcement purposes.

Sources say 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.

Howard County Police Chief Gary Gardner testified against the sanctuary bill proposed in his jurisdiction, saying it "could tie our hands" with regards to federal funding and agency cooperation, he said.

Howard County received a $50,000 grant for crime suppression this year, Gardner said, and has secured as much as $1.2 million before.

Wall, More Immigration Measures

The order against sanctuary cities was expected to be one part of a series of executive orders on immigration issues that will be unveiled over a couple of days.

Before Trump signed the sanctuary city order, he signed a document formally moving forward with his campaign promise to build a wall on the Mexican border.

The order calls for "the immediate construction of a physical wall on the southern border" of the United States. It does not say how the wall will be paid for.

Administration officials have said that the work on the wall could begin and that Mexico would be forced to pay for it down the road, though a mechanism for making that happen has not been spelled out.

"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.

"This is border security," Trump said. "We've been talking about this from the beginning. This is going to bring it over the top. We are going to restore the rule of law in the United States."

Added Trump: "A nation without borders is not a nation. Beginning today, the United States of America gets back control of its borders."

— By Patch Editors Colin Miner and Elizabeth Janney.

Photo via The White House.