From the moment that Donald Trump stepped into American politics, his focus on immigration reform has come under attack.
One of the main platforms that then-candidate Trump campaigned on back in 2016 was the building of a “big, beautiful wall” between the United States and Mexico in order to reduce the number of undocumented migrants who enter the United States outside of the legal naturalization process.
The left decried this as “racist” and cruel, before committing to any and all measures to prevent this wall from being built.
Many Democratically-led cities even went so far as to declare themselves “sanctuary cities”, where the local authorities vowed to not cooperate with federal immigration officials.
Today, a judge ruled that these locales could be subject to punishment from the federal government for their subordination.
A federal appeals court on Wednesday handed a major win to the Trump administration in its fight against “sanctuary” jurisdictions, ruling that it can deny grant money to states that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York overturned a lower court ruling that stopped the administration’s 2017 move to withhold grant money from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program, which dispenses over $250 million a year to state and local criminal justice efforts.
“Today’s decision rightfully recognizes the lawful authority of the Attorney General to ensure that Department of Justice grant recipients are not at the same time thwarting federal law enforcement priorities,” a DOJ spokesman said in a statement. “The grant conditions here require states and cities that receive DOJ grants to share information about criminals in custody. The federal government uses this information to enforce national immigration laws–policies supported by successive Democrat and Republican administrations.”
“All Americans will benefit from increased public safety as this Administration is able to implement its lawful immigration and public safety policies,” the statement said.
This ruling will undoubtedly cause a major fuss among liberals, who still believe that President Trump’s willingness to enforce our nation’s longstanding immigration laws is somehow an inborn and reprehensible character flaw worthy of constant criticism.
