Trump Signs Executive Order Cracking Down Philly, Other "Sanctuary Cities"

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order cracking down on the more than 300 sanctuary cities, including Philadelphia, that shield immigrants, the White House announced Wednesday. The federal government will withhold federal funds to those local governments that offer sanctuary to illegal immigrants.

The order will "strip federal grant money from states and cities that harbor illegal immigrants," White House Spokesman Sean Spicer said.

"We'll prioritize the prosecution and deportation of illegal immigrants who have otherwise violated our laws."

Philadelphia is one of the many municipalities in the country that is considered a "sanctuary city," or as Mayor Jim Kenney likes to call it, a "Fourth Amendment city."

Representatives from Kenney's office said Wednesday that Trump's executive order is "simply a directive."

"The Trump administration hasn’t even identified yet what federal grant funding they think they could cut," the mayor's office said in an email. "Nothing about the city’s policy is changing as of today."

The city's 2017 budget lists about $28 million in federal aid as part of its roughly $4.8 billion in revenues or the year.

The policy not to fully comply with Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the city level came from former Mayor Michael Nutter ion 2014. Before leaving office, Nutter rescinded the policy only to have Kenney reinstate it upon his taking office in January 2016.

The city only complies with ICE when illegal immigrants who have been convicted of violent first or second degree felonies are released from Philadelphia Police custody and ICE has a judicial warrant for the person's deportation.

You can read Trump's full executive order on sanctuary cities here:

Image via The White House