City

Stephanie Miner commends decision to block Trump’s bid to cut ‘sanctuary city’ funding

Colin Davy | Asst. Photo Editor

Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner has been defiant of President Donald Trump's executive action allowing federal funds to be withheld to so-called "sanctuary cities."

After a federal court blocked a proposed plan to slash federal funding to “sanctuary cities,” Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner said on Tuesday she hopes President Donald Trump’s administration will put a “destructive chapter” behind it and focus on “important issues.”

A United States federal judge in San Francisco revoked Trump’s executive order signed in January to withhold federal funds from cities that disobey Trump’s immigration policies. Miner declared Syracuse a sanctuary city in January.

“Today’s order follows the law and is a just outcome for cities across the United States that understand their responsibility to protect vulnerable immigrants,” Miner said in a statement on Twitter. “Cutting off federal funding for sanctuary cities is an irrational policy decision that would take away resources away from governments that are most responsive to Americans every day.”

Miner criticized the executive order when it was signed in January and emphasized that the city’s resources, such as the Syracuse Police Department, will not be deployed to enforce federal “anti-immigrant policies.” New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman also said in a statement from January that Trump does not have the constitutional authority to cut funding from sanctuary cities. Local governments “have every right” to defend immigrants from “federal overreach,” he noted.

In March, the United States Department of Justice threatened to cut as much as $4.1 billion in federal funding to sanctuary cities that don’t comply with federal immigration enforcement agents. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is ramping up raids in sanctuary cities to pressure them to comply with federal immigration agents, CNN reported in March.



In her statement Tuesday, Miner said she expects the battle over sanctuary cities to continue. She expressed her hope that the Trump administration will focus on infrastructure funding, job creation for working-class people and “a meaningful urban agenda” to solve problems that cities deal with.

“The President must be compassionate and think about the consequences of their actions and communities, like Syracuse, deserve representation that lives up to our values,” Miner said in the statement.





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