Trump renews sanctuary cities proposal

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump said Friday he is considering a proposal to release illegal immigrants into “sanctuary cities” where local leaders will not hand them over to federal authorities for deportation. “Due to the fact that Democrats are unwilling to change our very dangerous immigration laws, we are indeed, as reported, giving strong considerations to placing Illegal Immigrants in Sanctuary Cities only,” The president tweeted Friday.

News outlets reported Thursday that the White House previously considered the idea to alleviate overcrowding at detention facilities while pressuring political adversaries to accept the administration’s immigration policies. The plan specifically mentioned San Francisco, a sanctuary city that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., represents. A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security said that decision-makers rejected the proposal.

Trump’s statements may have breathed new life into the idea. “Democrats say we must have open borders and that illegal immigrants have a right to be in this country at all costs, so they should be working with the administration to find the best ways to transport those illegal aliens that are already set for release, into communities in their districts and states,” White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said Friday.

Critics of the plan accused Trump of using immigrants as pawns to retaliate against Democrats. “Trump’s plan to release migrants into ‘enemy’ cities as if they are some kind of contagion is reprehensible,” Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., tweeted Friday.