Some states and cities have reaffirmed they are sanctuaries for undocumented immigrants amid threats this week from President Donald Trump to pull federal funding for doing just that.
Hundreds of cities, typically of the liberal persuasion, have said they would not assist federal immigration officials in deporting immigrants despite an executive order from Trump that threatened pulling funding. It’s more difficult to do such a move on the state level, but a couple of states — New York and California — are having a go at it.
Democrats passed a bill this week in the New York State Assembly that would declare it a “sanctuary state” and another that would allow undocumented immigrants to take advantage of tuition assistance programs.
“It is our job to respond to his call to build border walls with a wall of our own, one that protects diversity and acceptance that have always been at the core of our state,” said Assemblyman Francisco Moya, a Democrat from the Queens borough of New York City, according to Politico.
The bill, however, has little of change of passing through the New York Senate, which is controlled by Republicans, reported Politico.
California, meanwhile, has begun moving to officially declare itself a sanctuary state, as well. It has begun passing laws that would prevent state law enforcement from helping federal immigration officials, which has angered Trump.
“We will certainly not stand for sanctuary even cities, let alone states,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly. “[California] in many ways is out of control … from an economic standpoint … People are leaving California [and] going to Texas and other places that are run in a different manner, but we’ll see what happens.”
The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), a group the Southern Poverty Law Center has criticized for having white nationalist ties, previously published a map detailing so-called sanctuary cities and states. The definition of a sanctuary can be imprecise, but CIS — which has proven popular in conservative circles — included California, Connecticut, New Mexico, Colorado, Connecticut, Rhode Island, North Dakota and Oregon in its latest map, updated in December.
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