Trump Threatens to Defund California - Stupid Again

The sanctuary cities issue

Trump’s threatening of sanctuary cities and communities that offer protection to immigrants and that recognize the injustice in current immigration laws and practices will undermine public safety and foster further  division in the  nation.

 His threat to take money from sanctuary cities and now the state  is un constitutional overreach.  Notice, the federal government receives tax revenues from these cities. By defending sanctuary cities  citizens and tax payers  can severely limit Trump’s abuse.  Several California cities are already preparing the legal groundwork to resist paying  specific taxes into the federal treasury if Trump  follows through on his threats to cut funds to these  sanctuary cities.

Immigration officers (ICE) need the cooperation of local law enforcement and social services to do their jobs successfully.  They have far too few agents and too few jails to effectively remove large numbers of people.  The last time such removal was practiced in Operation Wetback  in  1952 the government was only  effective because local institutions cooperated.  This time they will not cooperate.

There are some 300 sanctuary cities and districts in the U.S.  Citizens and voters in these cities can have an important role in their defense.

The Sacramento Bee report: 

Trump was responding to a question from O’Reilly about efforts by Democratic state legislators to make California a de-facto “sanctuary state” that would restrict state and local law enforcement, including school police and security departments, from using their resources to aid federal authorities in immigration enforcement.

“I think it’s ridiculous. Sanctuary cities, as you know, I’m very much opposed to sanctuary cities. They breed crime, there’s a lot of problems,” Trump said.

Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Francisco are sanctuary cities and have said they will will challenge in court any attempt by Trump to withhold federal funds from them. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said he doubted the 10th amendment to the Constitution, which reserves power to the states, would allow Trump to defund.

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg has said he would "join, if not lead, any effort to fight (the sanctuary city threat) with litigation."

Trump told O’Reilly that he didn’t want to defund a state or a city and would like to give them “the money they need to properly operate.”

But the president added that “if they’re going to have sanctuary cities, we may have to do that. Certainly that would be a weapon.”

Californa Gov. Jerry Brown pledged in his State of the State address last month to defend everybody who has come to the state "for a better life and has contributed to the well-being of our state."

“I recognize that under the Constitution, federal law is supreme and that Washington determines immigration policy. But as a state we can and have had a role to play. California has enacted several protective measures for the undocumented: the Trust Act, lawful driver's licenses, basic employment rights and non-discriminatory access to higher education,” Brown said in his State of the State. “We may be called upon to defend those laws and defend them we will.”

Sean Cockerham: 202-383-6016, @seancockerham

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/article130942769.html#storylink=cpy