Trump signs executive order to crack down on sanctuary cities
Reuters | Posted: April 29, 2025 12:51 AM | Last Updated: April
29
Order threatens to withhold federal funding for cities that
don't comply with immigration enforcement measures
Image | USA-TRUMP/NFL-EAGLES
Caption: U.S. President Donald Trump, pictured on the South
Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Monday, has
signed an executive order targeting 'sanctuary cities' that
have declined to co-operate with federal immigration
enforcement measures. (Leah Millis/Reuters)
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U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday
targeting "sanctuary cities" that have declined to co-operate
with federal efforts to arrest undocumented immigrants.
The order calls for the attorney general and secretary of
homeland security to publish a list of cities and states
failing to comply with federal immigration laws, warning those
that don't comply could lose federal funding.
Trump has criticized cities and states that limit co-operation
with federal immigration enforcement, labelling them
"sanctuaries" and blaming them for releasing criminal offenders
instead of co-ordinating their transfer to Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Last week, a federal judge blocked Trump's administration from
withholding federal funding from more than a dozen so-called
sanctuary jurisdictions that have declined to co-operate with
Trump's hardline immigration crackdown.
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U.S. officials arrested a Wisconsin judge on Friday and charged
her with helping a man in her court briefly evade immigration
authorities. The arrest triggered backlash from Democrats and
immigrant rights advocates who raised concerns that immigrant
victims may not feel safe in courthouses.
Trump border czar Tom Homan defended the arrest, saying that
the administration would enforce laws prohibiting harbouring of
a person in the United States illegally.
"You will be prosecuted, judge or not," he said.
Image | USA-TRUMP/
Caption: U.S. President Donald Trump's 'border czar' Tom Homan
speaks during a media briefing at the White House Monday.
(Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)
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White House displays photos of alleged criminals on lawn
Trump also signed a separate executive order Monday requiring
commercial truck drivers to be "proficient in English."
This came as his administration touted the early results of his
immigration crackdown, marking 100 days of Trump's second term
by displaying photos of alleged criminal offenders on the White
House lawn.
The photos featured 100 people charged or convicted of serious
crimes, including murder, rape and fentanyl distribution.
Numerous studies show immigrants do not commit crimes at a
higher rate than those born in the U.S.
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Trump launched an aggressive enforcement campaign after taking
office, surging troops to the southern border and pledging to
deport millions of immigrants in the United States illegally.
The Republican president, who made immigration a major campaign
issue in 2024, said the actions were needed after years of high
illegal immigration under his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden.
White House officials at a media briefing touted a steep
decline in illegal crossings at the border during Trump's first
three months in office — even as concerns have emerged over the
due process rights of immigrants and U.S. citizens swept up in
the dragnet.
The U.S. Border Patrol arrested 7,200 migrants illegally
crossing the border in March, the lowest monthly total since
2000 and down from a peak of 250,000 in December 2023.
"We have the most secure border in the history of this nation
and the numbers prove it," Trump border czar Tom Homan said at
the briefing.
WATCH | Canadian woman recounts being detained by ICE:
Media Video | Canadian Jasmine Mooney describes being taken
into ICE custody
Caption: Jasmine Mooney, a Canadian entrepreneur, describes
what it was like being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) after her visa application was denied at a
border crossing between Mexico and the U.S.
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Enforcement tactics impacting children criticized
Democrats and civil rights advocates have criticized Trump's
heightened enforcement tactics, including the cases of several
children who are U.S. citizens but were recently deported with
their parents. One of the children had a rare form of cancer,
according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Homan blamed the parents for putting their children at risk of
deportation by remaining in the United States.
"If you choose to have a U.S.-citizen child, knowing you're in
this country illegally, you put yourself in that position," he
said. In his first hundred days in office, Trump has moved to
strip legal immigration status from hundreds of thousands of
people, increasing the pool of those who can potentially be
deported.
While arrests of immigrants in the United States illegally have
spiked, deportations remain below last year's levels under
Biden when there were more people illegally crossing the border
who could be quickly returned.
Deportations were down in Trump's first three months in office
from 195,000 last year to 130,000 this year, Reuters reported
last week. Homan defended the figures and said it was not fair
to compare them to Biden-era tallies.
U.S. ICE detention facilities have been over capacity, with
some 48,000 in custody as of early April, beyond the funded
level of 41,500. Homan said that Texas military base Fort Bliss
could be ready "in the very near future" to hold migrant
detainees. The Trump administration has already been using the
U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
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