On January 25, 2017, President Trump followed up on his
campaign promises to fight illegal immigration and issued an
executive order that threatens to stop federal funds from being spent in the
300 U.S. jurisdictions that have established official policies where their local law enforcement officials will not cooperate with federal immigration law enforcement orders.
If limited to just the 106 so-called sanctuary cities, federal spending watchdog American Transparency finds that the executive order could affect as much as
$27 billion worth of federal funds from which they benefit. If you live in one of these jurisdictions or would like to find out more, American Transparency has published an
interactive map where you can see what funds would be specifically affected in each of the nation’s self-declared sanctuary cities. The following screen shot shows what we found when we focused on Oakland, California:
Adding the total awards together, we see that the sanctuary city of Oakland, California would see the federal government cut the amount of funds it either provides or spends within the city by up to $404 million in 2017. The actual value will be less than that, because that is the total amount allocated for all of Fiscal Year 2017, which we’re already one-third of the way through – if that money were being spent in equal monthly installments, the remaining amount for FY 2017 would be over $269 million.
When you consider that the City of Oakland, California’s has adopted an annual budget for its Fiscal Year 2016-17 of
$1.2 billion, you can see where the city may be hard pressed to come up with funds to replace the federal funding spent within the city limits. That’s why the executive order may have teeth in some municipalities, but not necessarily in others.
Writing at
Forbes, American Transparency’s Adam Andrezjewski
summarizes some of his organization’s findings on the amount of potentially affected spending per community:
- $26.741 billion in annual federal grants and direct payments flowed into America’s 106 sanctuary cities (FY2016).
- On average, the cost of lost federal funding for a family of four residing in one of the 106 sanctuary cities is $1,810 – or $454 per person. A total population of 46.2 million residents live in the 106 sanctuary cities according to census data.
- Washington, D.C., and Chicago, Illinois governments received the highest amount of federal funding per resident and, therefore, have the most to lose by maintaining their sanctuary status. Washington, D.C. municipal government received the highest amount of federal funding on a per capita basis: $3,228 per person; $12,912 per family of four; or $2.09 billion total. The City of Chicago, IL received the second highest amount of federal funding on a per capita basis: $1,942 per person; $7,768 per family of four; or $5.3 billion total.
- In cities with populations of 100,000 and above, the communities with the least per capita federal dollars ‘at risk’ are St. Paul, Minnesota ($47 per person, $14.2 million total); Downey, California ($36 per person, $4.2 million total) and Miami, Florida ($67 per person, $29.7 million total).
- $15.983 billion in federal funds flowed into just twelve major American cities where 1 in 5 illegal entrants reside (FY2016).
- In Los Angeles, fully 1 in 5 city residents (22-percent) are illegal entrants. However, the amount of federal funding amounts to only $126 per resident; $504 per family of four; or $502.5 million total.
With some of the lowest numbers of affected federal spending per capita, particularly in the cities with the largest numbers of illegal entrants among their residents, President Trump’s executive order will likely prove less than effective in obtaining his desired outcomes. To date, only Miami-Dade County, Florida
has terminated its sanctuary city policies, while others
have newly declared themselves to be sanctuary cities in defiance of President Trump’s executive order.