{"id":348275,"date":"2025-08-16T04:30:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T04:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/348275\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T04:30:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T04:30:13","slug":"trump-is-targeting-sanctuary-cities-to-settle-political-scores-and-potentially-arrest-his-opponents-us-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/348275\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump is targeting sanctuary cities to settle political scores and potentially arrest his opponents | US politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not about immigration<\/a> \u2013 or rather, it\u2019s not just about immigration.<\/p>\n

Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, sent letters<\/a> this week to dozens of cities and counties around the country, warning them that their leaders could be prosecuted and federal funds stripped from their cities if they don\u2019t \u201ccooperate\u201d with Donald Trump\u2019s<\/a> deportation scheme.<\/p>\n

The threats against cities come amid a backdrop of a crackdown on crime in Washington DC<\/a>, where Trump, after similar actions in Los Angeles, has sent in the military against the wishes of local leaders.<\/p>\n

The attacks on cities will not stop with Washington.<\/p>\n

Using immigration as a pretext, the Trump administration<\/a> wants to go after Democratic-run cities across the country to settle political scores, assert the president as a strongman and, potentially, arrest his opponents.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndividuals operating under the color of law, using their official position to obstruct federal immigration enforcement efforts and facilitating or inducing illegal immigration may be subject to criminal charges,\u201d Bondi wrote.<\/p>\n

Or, as Bondi told Fox News<\/a> after the letters were sent, she is telling local leaders: \u201cYou better be abiding by our federal policies and with our federal law enforcement, because if you aren\u2019t, we\u2019re going to come after you.\u201d<\/p>\n

In DC, the administration drew a lawsuit<\/a> over its takeover of the city\u2019s police force, after Bondi sought to end sanctuary policies that prevent local law enforcement from sharing information with immigration officials about people in custody.<\/p>\n

skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n

Sign up to This Week in Trumpland<\/p>\n

A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration<\/p>\n

Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n

If the Trump administration moves forward with threats to charge local officials, it would be an escalation of Trump\u2019s long-simmering war on cities<\/a>. The president has sought to paint cities as liberal \u201chellholes\u201d in need of liberation, delivered through military takeovers and arrests.<\/p>\n

On the campaign trail in 2024, Trump often went on diatribes against cities, calling out specific places that he wanted to target. In one speech from early 2024, he promised to \u201ctake over the horribly run capital of our nation\u201d and said he would \u201crebuild our cities into beacons of hope, safety and beauty \u2013 better than they have ever been before\u201d.<\/p>\n

He continued this tradition this week, naming majority Democratic cities run by Black mayors \u2013 Baltimore, Oakland, Los Angeles, Chicago \u2013 and putting them on notice that he could come there next.<\/p>\n

Bondi\u2019s letter spells out what cities are facing financially if they defy the president: Trump has directed federal agencies to look at their statutory ability to tie \u201cimmigration-related terms and conditions\u201d to \u201ccombat sanctuary policies\u201d when they are doling out federal grants, contracts and funds.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s allies who wrote Project 2025, the conservative blueprint for a second Trump administration<\/a>, suggested using this tactic to force cities, counties and states to aid immigration enforcement. In his first administration, Trump tried to use a justice department grant program this way, but the plan was tied up in court for years.<\/p>\n

Cities are ready to fight back. They have been in court defending their rights to create local policies that prevent their police forces from carrying out Trump\u2019s immigration agenda. Localities that received the letter have said it mischaracterizes their policies and ignores local control. Bruce Harrell, Seattle\u2019s mayor, said his city will remain a \u201cwelcoming city for all\u201d and will continue to defend itself in court if needed.<\/p>\n

And if Trump brings troops to their streets, they say they will be ready to push back.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be prepared to take any legal and any other action that we need to take,\u201d said Brandon Scott, Baltimore\u2019s mayor, in a press call on Thursday. \u201cAnd I know that my brother and sister mayors around the country feel the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s not about immigration \u2013 or rather, it\u2019s not just about immigration. Pam Bondi, the US attorney general,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[49,978,659],"class_list":{"0":"post-348275","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-united-states","9":"tag-us","10":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115036567862611267","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}