Earlier this morning, Texas governor Greg Abbott vowed to sign legislation banning sanctuary cities in Texas and to issue orders to cut off funding to dissenters.
Yes. I'm going to sign a law that bans sanctuary cities. Also I've already issued an order cutting funding to sanctuary cities. #txlege https://t.co/uYXa2QFrvE
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) November 28, 2016
The tweet from Abbott came in response to the following question posed by a follower after an Austin, TX official told Fox News that the city would remain a safe haven for illegal immigrants.
@GregAbbott_TX just saw on @FoxNews that Austin pledges to remain a sanctuary city. Is there anything your office can do to reverse this?
— Ren (@that_ren) November 28, 2016
Of course, all of this comes after a recent "60 Minutes" interview where Trump confirmed his campaign pledge to immediately deport 2-3 million illegal immigrants with a criminal record. Here is what he said:
“What we’re going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, where a lot of these people, probably two million, it could be even three million, we are getting them out of our country.”
As expected, many "sanctuary cities," or jurisdictions around the country where law enforcement officials refuse to cooperate with federal immigration officers, have since doubled down on their vows to protect illegal immigrants.
As we noted previously, California's LAPD Chief confirmed that his department would "not help deportation efforts." Meanwhile, both Chicago and Boston also joined in with similar comments. Per WGN News, Chicago's Mayor Rahm Emanuel recently vowed that illegal immigrants are "safe in Chicago."
"You are safe in Chicago. You are secure in Chicago. You are supported in Chicago. Now administrations may change but values and principles as it relates to inclusion do not."
While CBS Boston confirmed a similar stance by Boston Mayor Marty Walsh:
He’s worried that undocumented residents will be afraid to go to the police for help, or even send their kids to school. “The police department, if you call them and you need help they will help you, and they will not turn you in to the Feds,” Jackson says.
Mayor Walsh appears to be staying the course as well, saying in a statement: “We are a welcoming city for all. These are Boston values and no policy will change them.”
Not everyone agrees. “It’s no secret that these criminal illegal aliens and terrorists are looking for places to go where they are least likely to be caught,” says Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson.
He says sanctuary cities are breaking federal law. “What’s really troubling about this is that any elected official in this country would suggest that there should be a certain class of people who do not have to abide by our laws,” Hodgson says.
http://up.anv.bz/latest/anvload.html
In all, according to the Center for Immigration Studies, there are roughly 300 "sanctuary" jurisdictions around the country. We suspect many of them need their federal funding more than they need to their criminal illegal aliens but time will tell...