President Donald Trump said Tuesday that his administration will halt federal funding to cities and states that have declared themselves sanctuaries for illegal aliens beginning next month.
Trump made the remarks at the Detroit Economic Club in a speech that aired live on Newsmax and the Newsmax2 free online streaming platform.
"Starting Feb. 1, we're not making any payments to sanctuary cities or states having sanctuary cities because they do everything possible to protect criminals at the expense of American citizens," Trump said to applause.
"And it breeds fraud and crime and all of the other problems that come. So, we're not making any payment to anybody that supports sanctuary cities."
The Department of Justice has designated 11 states and the District of Columbia, three counties and 18 cities as sanctuary jurisdictions based on policies that impede enforcement of federal immigration statutes and regulations.
Trump has intensified immigration enforcement since returning to office last year, deploying agents from the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Customs and Border Protection to several states and cities, many run by Democrats.
The latest focus is Minnesota, where the Trump administration has sent DHS, ICE, and CBP agents as part of a crackdown on illegal immigration and fraud involving members of the state's Somali community.
"Our ICE operation in Minnesota, for example, is finding hundreds of killers, violent predators and child rapists, some of the worst criminal offenders anywhere in the world," Trump said.
"Murderers all over the place. All we want to do is get them out. ... But it's hard to get them because they make it so impossible for you.
"And you wonder, why would they do that? Do they want to live with murderers? Do they want to live with these people that are emptied out from prisons?
"We're also going to revoke the citizenship of any naturalized immigrant from Somalia, or anywhere else, who is convicted of defrauding our citizens. We're going to get them the hell out of here fast.
"And if you come to America to rob Americans, we're throwing you in jail, and we're sending you back to the place from where you came. ... It breeds fraud and crime and all of the other problems that come.
"So, we're not making any payment to anybody that supports sanctuary cities."
Trump also touted the Small Business Administration's cancellation of nearly 8,000 loans "to suspected scammers in Minnesota, of which there are many."
"It's a great state," he said. "It was a great state. Now it's getting destroyed by that stupid governor [Democrat Tim Walz].
"What a stupid guy he is. But he's a crook. I mean, he's an incompetent guy, but he's a crook. ... You can't have corruption on a scale that nobody's ever seen before, and you're sitting as a governor, and you don't know what's going on.
"It's impossible, even though he's a stupid guy," Trump said.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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