The order is ‘centered around protecting American communities from criminal aliens,’ said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on April 28 directing his administration to publish a list of sanctuary cities accused of obstructing federal immigration law enforcement.
His order said that states were obstructing and defying federal immigration enforcement despite the need for the federal government’s intervention amid an invasion at the southern border. “This is a lawless insurrection against the supremacy of Federal law and the Federal Government’s obligation to defend the territorial sovereignty of the United States,” the order read.
Under the order, Attorney General Pam Bondi must work with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to publish the list within 30 days and notify the jurisdictions of their defiance of federal immigration law. Other provisions directed the two department heads to take steps in order to stop practices that favored illegal immigrants over Americans, as well as to ensure appropriate eligibility verification is conducted for individuals receiving federal public benefits.
The order also directs the two agency heads to pursue all legal avenues and enforcement efforts to bring any noncompliant jurisdictions into compliance.
The order specifically directs Bondi to target any state or local laws that may prioritize illegal immigrants over U.S. citizens, including in-state tuition benefits or favorable criminal sentencing, the official said.
A White House official announced the order earlier in the day. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the order was “centered around protecting American communities from criminal aliens.”
“It’s quite simple—obey the law, respect the law, and don’t obstruct federal immigration officials and law enforcement officials when they are simply trying to remove public safety threats from our nation’s communities,” Leavitt said.
The press secretary was joined by Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, to preview the order early on April 28 during a press briefing. The presentation focused on Trump’s immigration actions during the first 100 days of his second term.
The president is expected to sign a second executive order on Monday evening that seeks to “strengthen and unleash America’s law enforcement to pursue criminals and protect innocent citizens,” Leavitt said.
As of April 28, Trump has signed more than 140 executive orders during his first 100 days since inauguration, the White House said.
Leavitt blamed the Biden administration for granting asylum to millions of people who traveled to the southern border from other countries since early 2021, indicating that Trump’s immigration policies are a response to what she called former President Joe Biden’s “dereliction of duty.”
However, many of the Trump administration’s actions on illegal immigration, including deportation flights to El Salvador, have been met with litigation from outside groups, Democratic state attorneys general, and plaintiffs claiming that they are facing deportation without first having court hearings to determine their legal status, resulting in judges’ halting of a number of them.
The Trump administration has moved to appeal these decisions.
Recently, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government must “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant who was deported to El Salvador because of an “administrative error” after he was granted “withholding of removal” status in 2019 because of life-threatening conditions in his home country of El Salvador.
The administration says he is a member of the Venezuelan transnational gang MS-13, which has now been designated a foreign terrorist organization. Administration officials also say that the responsibility for Abrego Garcia’s return now falls on the government of El Salvador, which the U.S. government paid $6 million to take deportees to its Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), a maximum security prison.
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has said that he will not return Abrego Garcia to the United States.
“Of course I’m not going to do it. I mean, the question is preposterous,” he told reporters during a visit to the White House on April 14.
When asked whether he would release him inside El Salvador, he said, “We’re not really fond of releasing terrorists into our country.”
Last week, a federal judge ruled that a previous Trump order directing Bondi and Noem to ensure that sanctuary jurisdictions “do not receive access to federal funds” is likely unconstitutional.
Judge William Orrick wrote that, in addition to “violat[ing] the Constitution’s separation of powers principles and the Spending Clause,” the administration’s actions also “violate the Fifth Amendment to the extent they are unconstitutionally vague and violate due process.”
Orrick’s ruling blocked the Trump administration from enforcing the order against several California jurisdictions that are suing. Those include Monterey County and the cities of Emeryville, Oakland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz.
There has been a 97 percent decrease in border crossings in March this year compared with March 2022, the White House said earlier this month.
On April 28, the Department of Homeland Security said that overall daily border encounters are down by 93 percent and that encounters with “gotaways,” or illegal immigrants who manage to escape or completely evade immigration enforcement, are down by 95 percent compared with encounters during the previous administration.
To mark the president’s first 100 days back in office, the White House on April 28 displayed signs showing 100 people whom Immigration and Customs Enforcement had arrested, along with the crimes they had been charged with.