Donald Trump's position on his own flagship campaign issue, immigration, has, shall we say shifted over the past 18 months. Throughout the Republican primary, Trump pledged to deport all 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. He promised to build a big, beautiful wall to keep all the bad people out. Since last week's victory, however, he's remixed the track. He said he now plans to deport between 2 and 3 million "criminals" in a 60 Minutes interview Sunday, and last week campaign surrogate Newt Gingrich suggested The Wall was actually a "campaign device." That must be the term people who will #DrainTheSwamp use for "lie."
Anyway, even Trump's softened immigration plan is unacceptable to many. (It is also questionably feasible: Both his deportation and wall plans would require incredible resources, and FiveThirtyEight indicates there aren't even 2 or 3 million undocumented immigrants who have committed the kind of crimes to which Trump was referring.) A number of cities and their mayors have now come forward to declare they will resist Trump's plan even in its milder iteration.
Here's a rundown.
Los Angeles
According to the L.A. Times, the LAPD has a longstanding policy of distancing itself from federal immigration mandates. Since a special order in 1979, the department has prohibited officers from "initiating contact with someone solely to determine whether he or she is in the country legally." It also stopped turning low-level offenders over to federal agents to be deported, and resisted federal requests to detain inmates past their jail terms who might be deportable.
Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said Monday he had no plans to change the department's approach: "I don't intend on doing anything different. We are not going to engage in law enforcement activities solely based on somebody's immigration status. We are not going to work in conjunction with Homeland Security on deportation efforts. That is not our job, nor will I make it our job."
Newark
Mayor Ras J. Baraka said in a statement the city will continue its policy of shielding undocumented immigrants from deportation:
Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka says he won’t comply with Trump's immigration plans: pic.twitter.com/SpFFPWHPa4
- Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 14, 2016
New York
Mayor Bill de Blasio also pledged to defend undocumented city residents. "We are not going to sacrifice a half million people who live among us, who are part of our community," he said. "We are not going to tear families apart." He called Trump's threat to punish so-called "sanctuary cities" by withholding federal funding "dangerous."
Seattle
Mayor Ed Murray also indicated his city would resist. "Seattle has always been a welcoming city," he said Monday. "The last thing I want is for us to start turning on our neighbors."
Chicago
The midwest giant will continue to be a sanctuary city, according to reports.
Providence
The mayor of Rhode Island's capital, Jorge Elorza, indicated the city would, according to The Seattle Times, continue its "longstanding city policy of refusing to hold people charged with civil infractions for federal immigration officials." Elorza is himself the son of Guatemalan immigrants.
Denver
According to Denver Police spokesman Doug Schepman, that department will also decline to participate in Trump's immigration plan: "Immigration enforcement is handled at the federal level, not by local law enforcement," Schepman said in a statement. "The Denver Police Department has not participated in those enforcement efforts in the past and will not be involved in the future."
Philadelphia
Mayor Jim Kenney signaled Philly will continue to be a "sanctuary city" last week, although he preferred to use a different term: "First of all, we've changed the name from sanctuary city to the Fourth Amendment city," he said. "We respect and live up to the Fourth Amendment, which means you can't be held against your will without a warrant from the court signed by a judge. So yeah, we will continue to be a Fourth Amendment city abiding by the Constitution."
He was a bit cryptic, however, when asked if it would change the situation if Trump were to follow through on his threat to pull funding from non-compliant cities:
"Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it and we'll see how it goes and we'll try to figure something out," he said.
This post has been updated.
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