One day after a report surfaced claiming the White House tried to convince immigration authorities to release captured immigrants into sanctuary cities, President Trump confirmed the report — and said his administration is still giving the move “strong consideration”.
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In the initial report from the Washington Post, a White House spokesman on Thursday called it a “suggestion that was floated and rejected." On Friday, Trump had a different message on Twitter:
Sanctuary cities, like Philadelphia, are places where municipal are leaders limiting or refusing cooperation with the government’s enforcement of immigration laws, like when Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney ended the city’s PARS agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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The city had been providing ICE with access to its real-time arrest database, but after reported misuses of the database by ICE, Kenney said he could not “in good conscience” allow the agreement to stand.
Trump has clashed with sanctuary cities in the past, and specifically Philadelphia.
This past February, the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia upheld a ruling from last June, stating that the Trump administration cannot legally cut grants to Philadelphia because of its sanctuary city status.
"I say to our immigrant community: We are glad you call Philadelphia home, and we will continue to fight for you,” Kenney said after the ruling in February.
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