Sanctuary Cities Targeted

President Donald Trump signed an executive order yesterday directing the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to compile a list of sanctuary cities and states within 30 days. The order seeks to identify areas not fully complying with federal immigration laws; these areas could lose federal funding or face lawsuits if they don’t revise their practices. 

Sanctuary jurisdictions limit the involvement of local police in enforcing federal immigration policies. At least a dozen states—including New York and California—and hundreds of cities have statutes prohibiting local law enforcement, to some degree, from cooperating with federal requests to detain migrants or share information on noncitizens (see map). Advocates say such measures are designed to build trust between immigrant communities and local law enforcement, while critics say they allow cities and states to undermine federal authority.

The order comes after the Trump administration sued Illinois, Chicago, and Cook County in February over their sanctuary laws and after a federal judge last week blocked the administration from denying funding to such cities.