
Sanctuary Cities
Sanctuary cities are cities that have adopted a policy of not prosecuting undocumented immigrants for violating federal immigrations laws. The idea of sanctuary cities dates back thousands of years and was instituted in 1979 in Los Angeles. San Francisco followed suit in 1989.
Timeline
2016.11.13 Chicago defies Trump by pledging to remain a sanctuary city. politico.com (See also First 100 Days) 2016.11.22 What are sanctuary cities? economist.com (See also First 100 Days, Immigration) 2016.11.26 Sanctuary cities have the Constitutional right to defy Trump's anti-immigration and deportation efforts. washingtonpost.com 2016.12.02 Officials in at least 18 sanctuary cities have pledged to resist Trump's threats. m.motherjones.com 2017.01.25 Big city mayors vow to defy Trump on sanctuary cities order. usatoday.com (See also Domestic Policy, Muslim Immigration Ban, Muslims) 2017.01.25 By cracking down on immigration and threatening martial law, Trump is following through on his incendiary campaign promises. vanityfair.com (See also First 100 Days, Immigration, Mexico Wall, Immigrants) 2017.01.25 California lawmakers denounce Trump's immigration executive orders and promise legislative and legal action. latimes.com (See also First 100 Days, Immigration) 2017.01.25 Politico breaks down the key components of Trump's executive orders on immigration. politico.com (See also First 100 Days, Immigration, Mexico Wall) 2017.01.25 The New York Times uses data from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center to map out jurisdictions with policies that limit cooperation with federal detention requests. nytimes.com (See also First 100 Days) 2017.01.25 Trump plans on publishing a weekly list of crimes committed by undocumented immigrants in cities that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. buzzfeed.com (See also Immigration) 2017.01.25 Trump signs executive order to begin Mexico border wall and cut funding from sanctuary cities in immigration crackdown. theguardian.com (See also First 100 Days, Mexico Wall, Immigration, Immigrants, Mexican Americans) 2017.01.26 Miami-Dade mayor effectively ends county's position as a sanctuary city when he orders jails to comply with Trump's executive order to indefinitely detain undocumented inmates. miamiherald.com 2017.01.26 Trump's executive order pulling federal funding from sanctuary cities has serious constitutional problems, including constitutional federalism and the separation of powers. washingtonpost.com (See also First 100 Days) 2017.01.26 Trump’s executive orders, drawn up without consulting his Cabinet or legal experts, leave government agencies in the dark, Republican leaders scrambling to catch up, and policy experts wondering if some of them are even legal. vanityfair.com (See also First 100 Days, Stephen Miller, James Mattis, Department of Defense, Mike Pompeo, Central Intelligence Agency, Keystone XL Pipeline, Mexico Wall, Steve Bannon, Unprecedented Actions) 2017.01.27 Austin takes central role in clash over sanctuary cities after democratically elected Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez says she will defy federal authorities on immigration, prompting the Texas governor to threaten her with removal, theguardian.com 2017.01.31 San Francisco sues Donald Trump over order targeting 'sanctuary cities' and mandating the federal government withhold grants from localities that limit cooperation with immigration enforcement. theguardian.com (See also First 100 Days, Immigration)
Assessments
Ilya Somin — The Washington Post
Somin examines the case for sanctuary cities from the perspective of the Constitution and Federalism in light of Trump's threats to cut funding:
Under the Constitution, state and local governments have every right to refuse to help enforce federal law. In cases like Printz v. United States (1997) and New York v. United States (1992), the Supreme Court has ruled that the Tenth Amendment forbids federal “commandeering” of state governments to help enforce federal law. Most of the support for this anti-commandeering principle came from conservative justices such as the late Antonin Scalia, who wrote the majority opinion in Printz.
Trump has said that he intends to break the resistance of sanctuary cities by cutting off all of their federal funding. The cities might continue resisting even if they do lose some federal funds. But Trump’s threat is not as formidable as it might seem.
Few if any federal grants to state and local governments are conditioned on cooperation with federal deportation efforts. The Supreme Court has long ruled that conditions on federal grants to state and local governments are not enforceable unless they are “unambiguously” stated in the text of the law “so that the States can knowingly decide whether or not to accept those funds.”