The Justice Department has decided to treat sanctuary cities like criminals, it announced Thursday, pointing to the threat of criminal gangs like MS-13 — an argument often used by the Trump administration to justify its immigration policies.“Finally, we are also holding sanctuary cities accountable for their lawless conduct,” Associate Deputy Attorney General Robert Hur told reporters at a White House briefing Thursday. “The Attorney General will not allow sanctuary cities to become sanctuaries for criminals.”The nation’s top Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency official, acting ICE Director Thomas Homan, who also spoke at the briefing, said sanctuary cities are a “criminal’s biggest friend.”Homan said ICE will do everything to “enforce laws” against illegal immigration, adding that President Trump’s proposed border wall is needed as “one more tool in the toolbox.”Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who Homan called a “strong supporter of immigration enforcement,” said Tuesday he will punish sanctuary cities by withholding millions of dollars in federal grants.“This is what the American people should be able to expect from their cities and states,” Sessions said, adding that the measures are “long-overdue requirements [that] will help us take down MS-13 and other violent transnational gangs, and make our country safer.”
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