The White House on Sunday, echoing President Donald Trump, said sending illegal aliens to sanctuary U.S. cities that have protected them from deportation remains a possibility even though government agencies have said it would be impractical and there is no money allocated to do it.
“We certainly are looking at all options as long as [opposition] Democrats refuse to acknowledge the crisis at the border,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told the “Fox News Sunday” show.
Trump said late Saturday on Twitter, “Democrats must change the Immigration Laws FAST. If not, Sanctuary Cities must immediately ACT to take care of the Illegal Immigrants – and this includes Gang Members, Drug Dealers, Human Traffickers, and Criminals of all shapes, sizes and kinds. CHANGE THE LAWS NOW!”
Democrats must change the Immigration Laws FAST. If not, Sanctuary Cities must immediately ACT to take care of the Illegal Immigrants – and this includes Gang Members, Drug Dealers, Human Traffickers, and Criminals of all shapes, sizes and kinds. CHANGE THE LAWS NOW!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 14, 2019
Hundreds of U.S. cities, along with California, the country’s most populous state, have declared themselves as havens for illegal aliens who have crossed the southern U.S. border with Mexico, refusing the help U.S. immigration officials to track down the illegal aliens so they can be deported.
U.S. border authorities apprehended more than 100,000 undocumented foreigners, mostly from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, at the border in March, nearly twice that in the same month in 2018.
“So let’s push some of them into their own communities,” Sanders said of newly arriving illegal alien families. The U.S. now houses thousands of illegal aliens at the border, but is running out of beds and instead is releasing new arrivals into the U.S. on their promise to appear at asylum hearings that might not occur for two years.
The Department of Homeland Security has said that Congress has not appropriated any money to transport the migrants from the border to far-flung sanctuary cities across the U.S., while the Immigration and Custom Enforcement agency has called it an “unnecessary operational burden.”
Sanders said, “Nobody thinks this is the ideal solution,” sending illegal aliens to sanctuary cities. But she said mayors of cities “who want this … should be looking to help” Trump resolve the crisis at the border. She accused Congress of wanting to spend “all of its time investigating the president” rather than dealing with the immigration turmoil at the border.
Trump tweeted, “So interesting to see the Mayor of Oakland and other Sanctuary Cities NOT WANT our currently ‘detained immigrants’ after release due to the ridiculous court ordered 20 day rule. If they don’t want to serve our Nation by taking care of them, why should other cities & towns?”
Trump was referring to a court ruling prohibiting the U.S. from detaining illegal alien minors, those under 18 years old, for more than 20 days, before being required to release them to relatives in the U.S. or other care givers.
A key Republican lawmaker, Sen. Lindsey Graham, told another Fox News show, “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo,” that after the current two-week congressional recess ends, he would introduce legislation that would authorize the detention of children beyond 20 days, “toughen up our asylum standards,” and allow illegal alien children to be returned to Central American countries, which is not now allowed once they have entered the United States.
“We’re never going to change this with troops and walls at the border,” Graham said of the U.S. border crisis. “Doing what we’re doing is not working.”
He added, “If you get one foot into the United States,” illegal aliens can seek asylum. “The word is out that if you come with a minor, you’re never going to get deported. We need to change that narrative. We need troops at the border. We need a law. But these [U.S.] laws are insane.”
