POTUS signing revised executive order on immigration nbcnews.com |
Blogger Candidate Forum decided to make a Tuesday appearance so Blogger can have a little break today.
The Forum also decided to return to the subject of sanctuary cities. This time we are going to look at how much it will cost the host states if President Donald Trump makes good on his pledge to withhold funding from sanctuary cities/ Natalie Delgadillo estimates, in her CityLab article "The Price of Sanctuary," that POTUS's pledge could cost their states "more than $870 million." These sanctuary cities are courting danger if they do not rescind their policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Ms. Delgadilo reports, "While it's still unclear exactly what money is at risk, a new interactive map by the Center for American Progress [http://www.americanprogress.org] together with National Immigration Law Center [http://www.nilc.org] and the American Immigration Lawyers Association [http://www.aila.org], gives an idea of which states have the most to lose-an how deep these cuts could go."
"Funding potentially at risk in jurisdiction with sanctuary policies" Map by the CAP in partnership with NILC and AILA |
Countries affected by the immigration suspension abc7NY.com |
The also delineates funding streams according to grant programs, highlights the impact of losing each source of money. What is the greater loss in most states? The CDBGs, which alone accounts for over $730 million of the total possible $870 million deficit. The states facing the deepest cuts are some of the most populous: California, New York, Illinois, and Pennsylvania. These states utilize the CDBGs to provide services to low-income and the most vulnerable residents in the form of affordable and anti-poverty initiatives.
Map of cities pledged sanctuary cities narlo.org |
In December 2016, press secretary for Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti Connie Llanos told CityLab,
Some of these [federal grants] go to our highest-need areas...It's not really about something being X percentage of the total budget. If you remove one of these pots of funding, there's nowhere for the city to backfill it from because it's not something we fund.
Natalie Delgadillo cautions, "The analysis comes with a few caveats. First, no one actually knows whether the administration will after these funding streams; it's simply an educated guess based on the actions of Republicans lawmakers in the past. What's more, some legal experts believe cutting theses...won't pass muster in the courts.
The Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution tenthamendmentcenter.com |
The 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits the federal government from forcing or coercing states to assist in federal immigration enforcement, and the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the threat to withhold funding cannot be so significant that it effectively compels compliance...
This is a basic truth. Toward the end of last year CityLab published a thorough explanation of the legal challenges facing President Donald Trump as he tries to cut off funds to sanctuary cities (http://www.citylab.com).
Pro-migration protest theguardian.com |
However, other organizations like the Center for Immigration Studies, have posited "that these concerns are largely unfounded, and sanctuary city policies have led to the release of hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who would otherwise be deported." These organizations maintain that sanctuary cities are violating federal law and should be penalized.
The constitutionality of defunding sanctuary cities will ultimately decided by the courts. Should this matter reach the Supreme Court of the United States, it will face a conservative majority panel who may not be so incline to accept the argument that federal government can co-opt local governments to assist in immigration law enforcement. In the meantime, the majority of states and over 600 municipalities around the country will have to wait see what losses they face.
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