US President Donald Trump on Friday said that he is seriously considering funneling detained illegal migrants into the self-declared “sanctuary cities” that oppose his tough immigration policies.
Trump’s announcement on Twitter reversed a previous White House assurance that the idea — criticized as political retribution against cities led by opposition Democrats — had been dropped.
“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,” Trump wrote.
“The Radical Left always seems to have an Open Borders, Open Arms policy -- so this should make them very happy!” he added.
The Washington Post revealed the proposal, which would mark a new flashpoint in the ever-growing political divide over immigration.
Trump has staked his presidency on his insistence that the US is being overrun by migrants and asylum seekers.
However, opponents, mostly in the Democratic Party, have said that his push for building more walls on the Mexican border and his almost daily denunciations of migrants as dangerous criminals incite racial hatred.
In comments to reporters later, Trump said that he wanted the US Congress, where the US House of Representatives is controlled by Democrats, to tighten visas and streamline the deportation process.
Otherwise he would order migrants to be transported to the sanctuary cities, he said.
“If they don’t agree we might as well do what they say they want.... We’ll bring them to sanctuary city areas and let that particular area take care of it,” he said. “We can give them an unlimited supply.”
Late on Friday, he reiterated his call for a “merit-based” immigration system.
“If the Radical Left Democrats all of a sudden don’t want the Illegal Migrants in their Sanctuary Cities (no more open arms), why should others be expected to take them into their communities?” he said on Twitter.
Sanctuary cities are places where local authorities — usually Democratic-run — have refused to hand over undocumented immigrants for deportation.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed dismissed Trump’s proposal.
“This is just another in a long line of scare tactics and half-baked ideas that are just about chasing headlines and distracting people from real issues,” she said on Twitter.
Citing US Department of Homeland Security officials and leaked e-mails, the Post said that White House officials first broached the plan in November last year, asking several agencies whether members of a caravan of migrants could be arrested at the border and then bussed “to small and mid-sized sanctuary cities.”
The White House told the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency that the plan was intended to alleviate a shortage of detention space, but would also send a message to Democrats, the Post said.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of