President Donald Trump said that he plans to withhold all federal funding to sanctuary cities, a move that would pressure finances from New York to San Francisco.
“No more Sanctuary Cities! They protect the Criminals, not the Victims,” the president said in a post on Truth Social on Thursday. “They are disgracing our Country, and are being mocked all over the World.”
Trump — who has promised to execute the largest mass deportation of undocumented migrants in U.S. history — said he was “working on papers to withhold all Federal Funding for any City or State that allows these Death Traps to exist!!!” His administration attempted a similar step during his first term, though the moves were blocked in court.
Since he assumed office in January, Trump has used executive orders to force changes at elite universities and law firms. He’s leaned on the federal purse-strings to advance policy like blocking diversity, equity and inclusion practices in schools. The president has long criticized sanctuary cities, which refer to jurisdictions with certain policies like allowing people who entered the US illegally to remain without fear of arrest because of their immigration status.
Those practices, in place in some of the largest U.S. cities, may mean restricting the flow of the information they share with federal officials and declining to require residents to provide their immigration status when accessing public services. The Center for Immigration Studies estimates that 13 states and more than 200 cities and counties have policies that limit compliance with federal immigration enforcement.
New York, Boston, Chicago
Democratic mayors of Boston, Chicago, Denver and New York City defended their policies before the House Oversight Committee in March after Republicans cast the jurisdictions as flouting federal laws.
The federal government provides aid to local governments to help fund city services.
New York City expects to receive $9.7 billion in federal aid in the current fiscal year accounting for roughly 8.3% of the city’s total $116 billion budget. Over 80% of the non emergency-related funding goes to five city agencies, including the Department of Education and the Department of Homeless Services. The money supports the Head Start programs and free school lunch and breakfast for children in the city’s poorest neighborhoods.
Cities have been bracing for a potential disruption in federal aid as they set their spending plans for the upcoming fiscal year.
“We need to be preparing for the worst in every case,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, said in an address outlining her $4.8 billion budget proposal on Wednesday. The city receives more than $300 million each year from Washington. “Under this federal administration, the only daily constant is chaos and disruption, and that means it falls to us at the city level to do our very best,” Wu said.
Chicago is counting on $2.72 billion in federal grant funding in 2025, making up a key part of the city’s roughly $17 billion budget. Mayor Brandon Johnson is already facing annual deficits of more than $1 billion over the coming two years.
During his first term, Trump signed an executive order that sought to restrict federal funding to such cities, though the order was ultimately blocked by the federal courts.
His first administration separately blocked sanctuary cities from accessing a Department of Justice program that funds local law enforcement agencies. That policy was also challenged by six states and New York City, and brought before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2020. The Supreme Court dismissed the case in 2021, when former President Joe Biden assumed office and rescinded the policy.
