Sanctuary Cities Grapple With Trump's Threat To Pull Federal Funding
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) -- President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigration is forcing Bay Area leaders to make tough choices.
Some Bay Area mayors say their cities are sanctuary cities no matter what President Trump does.
During his state of the city address on Thursday, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee proclaimed, "We are a sanctuary city now, tomorrow, forever."
But not all cities in the Bay Area are taking that same hardline stance.
"San Rafael is not a sanctuary city," said police Lt. Dan Fink. "We assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement for criminal deportee warrants, but we will not assist them when they are doing what they call administrative sweeps within the city."
And the city of Menlo Park is still deciding on whether to declare itself a sanctuary city and it's not the only one.
On Tuesday night at a Menlo Park City Council meeting, officials considered whether to become a sanctuary city where police don't cooperate with immigration officials.
"What we decided to do is look into the sanctuary city," said Menlo Park Mayor Kirsten Keith. "We want to find out more information and craft a resolution."
On Wednesday, President Trump signed an executive order directing the Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security to cut federal grants to sanctuary cities.
The loss of federal funds brings new considerations for officials. The sanctuary city label could come at a big price.
"We need to understand what kind of federal funding the city receives and how we want to proceed on that," said Mayor Keith.
The Menlo Park City Council will meet again in 90 days to consider a sanctuary city proposal.
"We will of course be watching what's going on around the world, around the country. And that will also probably play into what we decide to do here as well," Keith said.
