President Trump said during a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on April 27, it was his “sick idea” to send illegal immigrants to sanctuary cities. Sanctuary cities are those that have adopted a policy of not cooperating with federal immigration officials by sharing information about illegal aliens whom they have detained for other offenses, or holding such aliens so federal officers can pick them up and deport them.
Trump told those attending the rally:
Last month alone, 100,000 illegal immigrants arrived at our borders, placing a massive strain on communities and schools and hospitals and public resources like nobody’s ever seen before. Now we’re sending many of them to sanctuary cities. Thank you very much. They’re not too happy about it. I’m proud to tell you that was actually my sick idea.
What did they say? “We want them.” I said we’ll give ‘em to you.
During the ABC News program, This Week with George Stephanopoulos on April 14, Stephanopoulos played a video clip of Trump saying: “They want more people in their sanctuary cities, we can give them an unlimited supply.” The host then spoke with White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, asking her “where does this idea stand right now?” Sanders, said, in part:
Look, this is an option on the table…. Certainly this wouldn’t be our first choice because ideally we wouldn’t be dealing with the massive influx of illegal immigrants coming across the border, the crisis that we have both from a national security and humanitarian standpoint….
If Democrats continue to be unwilling to [help the president fix the laws], then we’re going to look at all of our options and we don’t want to put all of the burden on one or two border communities. And Democrats have stated time and time again they support open borders, they support sanctuary cities. So, let’s spread out some of that burden and let’s put it in some of those other locations if that’s what they want to see happen and are refusing to actually help fix the problem.
When Stephanopoulos asked Sanders about the legality of this action, Sanders said:
The president heard the idea, he likes it, so — well, we’re looking to see if there are options that make it possible and doing a full and thorough and extensive review. The president likes the idea and Democrats have said they want these individuals into their communities so let’s see if it works and everybody gets a win out of it.
When Stephanopoulos said that “I don’t understand why the president’s attracted to it” and “it seems to run counter to his objectives,Sanders responded:
Again, this isn’t the president’s plan. His top priority is to stop the flow of illegal immigration coming into our country to begin with. Democrats and courts, frankly, keep tying the president’s hands and stopping him from being able to do that.
In a nutshell, the administration’s plan “is to stop the flow of illegal immigration.” But so long as the “Democrats and courts” prevent that from happening, why not send the illegal immigrants who are here to the sanctuary cities?
Photo of President Trump: AP Images
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