Trump says weighing sending illegal immigrants to U.S. sanctuary cities
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he was considering sending illegal immigrants in the country to so-called sanctuary cities.
“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,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Sanctuary cities are local jurisdictions that refrain from cooperating with federal immigration authorities and detain undocumented immigrants for possible deportation.
The Washington Post first reported on Thursday that the White House has been considering a plan for transporting immigrants in detention and releasing them into sanctuary cities that are Democratic strongholds.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s hometown of San Francisco is one of those places.
In remarks to reporters on Friday, Pelosi said she was not aware of the newspaper report. But she added, “it’s just another notion that is unworthy of the presidency of the United States and disrespectful of the challenges that we face, as a country, as a people, to address who we are, a nation of immigrants.”
Pelosi was in Leesburg, Virginia, where House Democrats were wrapping up a three-day retreat.
Reporting by Mohammad Zargham, Richard Cowan and Susan Cornwell in Leesburg, Virginia; Editing by Richard Chang
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