Attorney General Pam Bondi Directs DOJ To Halt Federal Funding For Sanctuary Cities

President Donald Trump’s newly confirmed Attorney General Pam Bondi has directed the Department of Justice (DOJ) to halt federal funding to sanctuary cities that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement agents.

The move from Bondi was one of her day-one directives and comes alongside a slate of policies and executive orders from the Trump administration as it seeks to secure the southern border and deport illegal aliens already present within the United States.

Trump alluded to plans to defund sanctuary cities in an interview with Fox News two days after he was inaugurated, stating that he “might have to” cut federal funding to cities that shield illegal aliens from deportation. A court ruled in Trump’s favor in 2020, finding that his DOJ was legally allowed to deny grants to cities that refused to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement agents.

A map of sanctuary cities compiled by the Center for Immigration Studies reveals that various cities across the country, including Lansing, Michigan, New York, New York, Richmond, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland, and numerous others, refuse to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

Entire states, such as California, Washington, Oregon, Utah, and Colorado have also adopted sanctuary policies to protect illegal aliens from deportations. Counties in conservative states like Tennessee, Idaho, Wyoming, and Nebraska have adopted the policies as well, while some regional jail systems have similarly refused to comply with ICE detainer requests for illegal aliens who have been charged with a crime.

Multiple Democratic leaders of sanctuary jurisdictions spoke out against President Donald Trump’s plan to deport illegal aliens in the immediate aftermath of his November election victory, doubling down on their refusal to cooperate with ICE as the federal agents work to deport criminal illegal aliens.

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey said she would “absolutely not” assist with federal deportation efforts just days after ICE agents located and arrested multiple illegal aliens who are accused of raping children.

Denver’s Democrat Mayor Mike Johnston indicated that he would use police to keep federal immigration enforcement agents out of the city. “More than us having DPD stationed at the county line to keep them out, you would have 50,000 Denverites there,” Johnston said.

An illegal alien from Venezuela was arrested for allegedly raping a 14-year old girl in Denver shortly after Johnston blustered against Trump’s planned deportation operations.

Bondi’s move to cut federal funding from sanctuary cities was one of her day-one directives, which also included establishing a “Weaponization Working Group” to review instances of “politicized justice,” urging prosecutors to seek the death penalty under certain circumstances, and working alongside the Department of Homeland Security to “completely eliminate” the cartels, which Trump designated as foreign terror organizations during his first day in office.