Trump Calls for Tying Any Financial Aid to States Changing Their Sanctuary Policies
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that if he were to back a financial aid package to cover states’ COVID-19-related revenue shortfalls and expenses, he would want “adjustments” to sanctuary policies.
Many cities and some states, such as California, New York and Oregon, have enacted so-called “sanctuary” policies, which prevent local law enforcement from cooperating with federal agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement in relation to criminal illegal aliens.
Trump first made it clear he has no intention of backing legislation that would seek to bail out states for financial issues they had going into the coronavirus pandemic.
“The problem with the states is we’re not looking to recover 25 years of bad management and to give them the money that they lost. That’s unfair to other states,” the president said.
“Now if it’s COVID-related,” Trump continued, “I guess we can talk about it, but we’d want certain things also, including sanctuary city adjustments, because we have so many people in sanctuary cities, which I don’t even think are popular even by radical-left folks because what’s happening is people are being protected that shouldn’t be protected and a lot of bad things are happening with sanctuary cities.”
Trump says he wants blue states to give him “sanctuary-city adjustments” in exchange for federal financial relief pic.twitter.com/wY2edZifPQ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 28, 2020
The president also addressed the issue during a meeting earlier in the day with Florida Gov. Ron Desantis, emphasizing his concern is about criminal illegal aliens.
Trump also called for a payroll tax cut to be included in any relief package.
“[W]e’d have to talk about things like payroll tax cuts,” he said, according to Politico. “We’d have to talk about things like sanctuary cities, as an example. I think sanctuary cities is something that has to be brought up where people who are criminals are protected, they are protected from prosecution.”
“I think that has to be done. I think it’s one of the problems that the states have. I don’t even think they know they have a problem, but they have a big problem with the sanctuary situation,” Trump added.
In February, Attorney General William Barr announced the Justice Department was filing three lawsuits against California, New Jersey and a Washington county over their so-called “sanctuary city” policies.
“Let us state the reality upfront and as clearly as possible: When we are talking about sanctuary cities, we are talking about policies that are designed to allow criminal aliens to escape,” the attorney general said.
“These policies are not about people who came to our country illegally but have otherwise been peaceful and productive members of society,” he explained.
“Their express purpose is to shelter aliens whom local law enforcement has already arrested for other crimes. This is neither lawful nor sensible.”
In January 2019, Trump addressed the killing California police officer Reggie Singh, saying, “America’s heart broke the day after Christmas when a young police officer in California was savagely murdered in cold blood by an illegal alien, who just came across the border. The life of an American hero was stolen by someone who had no right to be in our country.”
“Over the last several years, I’ve met with dozens of families whose loved ones were stolen by illegal immigration,” he added.
“I’ve held the hands of the weeping mothers and embraced the grief-stricken fathers. So sad. So terrible. I will never forget the pain in their eyes, the tremble in their voices, and the sadness gripping their souls.”
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