As President Donald Trump warned on Thursday that he was “working on documents” to direct the government to draw federal funds from the so -called cities of the sanctuary, democrats from Pennsylvania remained largely mother.
Trump has published on his account on social media and social truth that his administration has prepared to suspend all federal funds for cities or countries of the sanctuary, which allows them. The cities of the sanctuary are usually defined as places that limit the cooperation of law enforcement agencies with federal immigration bodies.
This is not the first time Trump threatened such an action. Over the years, he conducted a campaign about the promise, and in March he told reporters that the executive order ending the cities of the sanctuary was coming “very short”.
. The definition of the city of the sanctuary is differentAnd it is not clear which cities can be targeted by potential Trump financing cuts. In Philadelphia, officials refuse to comply with ICE applications about detained prisoners based on immigration status, unless the federal authorities present an order signed by a judge. This policy remains in place, said the city’s lawyer in January.
The city also does not ask for immigration status from natural persons about access to urban services, unless the service requires it.
The last financial year of Philadelphia received $ 2.2 billion in federal financing, which is almost one -fifth of total expenses, with a significant part of the money intended for health programs and social services.
»Read more: How much can Philly lose if Trump limits funds to cities? Here’s what you need to know.
Since the policy of the city and the poviat may differ, it is arduous to indicate how many jurisdiction may match the definition of the “city of the sanctuary” or the potentially threatened financing loss in Pennsylvania. Several anti -immigration groups placed this number in several cities or poviats.
The office of the mayor of Cherlle L. Parker refused to comment on Trump’s post on Thursday. Parker was largely serene regarding the cities of the sanctuary, even when activists more and more often call her to defend the city’s policy, which the former mayor Jim Kenney made the foundation stone of his term.
Asked in March about fears about federal cuts, Parker said that all federal reduction of the city was “serious and extremely disturbing.”
“We are only a small old town of Philadelphia,” she said.
Governor Josh Shapiro also largely avoided response to Trump’s comments. During the event at Packer Avenue Marine, the terminal in Philadelphia on Thursday, to talk about Trump’s tariffs, Shapiro refused to comment on the threat of Trump Sanctau City, saying that he had not seen this position.
“We are not a sanctuary state and I have not seen it,” said Shapiro.
Later, when asked about Trump’s approach to immigration in Pennsylvania, where both undocumented immigrants and refugees from the green card were deported, Shapiro said that the nation needs a “comprehensive immigration reform”, a unthreatening border and clear principles.
“What the president does now, in many respects, arouses fear in too many of our immigrant communities throughout Pennsylvania, taking people who can otherwise be here and removing them without proper trial from their communities,” he said.
“We can have the right process. We can have compassion. We can have clear road rules. We can have a safe border. We must do it all.”
In 2017, the city of Philadelphia sued Trump’s administration to decide about $ 1.5 million in federal means of law enforcement agencies, unless the police department in the city helped the federal authorities in identifying and transforming undocumented immigrants.
The city won this case in 2018. The Federal Court of Appeal largely maintained victory in Philadelphia in 2019.
It is not clear whether or when Trump can take action again. Senator Dave McCormick (R., Pa.) In the Tele-City Hall on Wednesday evening he said that he believes that “showdown” was coming between the administration and cities of the sanctuary and poviats in Pennsylvania.
“Both from the perspective of law enforcement agencies, but also from federal financing,” said McCormick on Wednesday, According to the report from Pennsylvania Capital-Star.
“I am in favor of enforcing humanitarian law,” said McCormick. “But ultimately we must enforce the law and I think that this will happen with those cities that do not enforce the law.”
“I think there will be a showdown that will eventually lose,” he added.
Congress conducted interrogations with cities leaders of the sanctuary at the beginning of last month. The mayors of Boston, Chicago, New York and Denver testified during a sizzling barbecue session. Parker was not asked to participate.
Rep. Summer Lee, the only Democrat of Pennsylvania in the committee, warned during the interrogation of March 3 that, in order to cooperate with ice, the cities would be erected “between a rock and a difficult place”.
“If they work with ICE, they risk violating the constitutional rights of their inhabitants and opening to expensive court disputes,” said Lee, who represents the district covering the part of Pittsburgh. “But if they do not bid on Trump, they are threatened with the loss of federal funds.”
Personnel writers Anna Orso and Jeff Gammage contribution to this article.
