“Once again, President Trump proved he will stand strong to secure our borders. Under his leadership, DHS has implemented a series of common sense reforms that utilize the authorities granted to us by Congress. We’ve built more than 100 miles of new border wall system and reduced the number of illegal border apprehensions for eight consecutive months. We are also rooting out meritless and fraudulent asylum claims while prioritizing humanitarian protections for those who are in need, and at the same time, we have naturalized more new Americans last year than in each year of the previous decade. Most importantly, President Trump is keeping the American people safe.
“The President also touched on a top public safety issue that puts millions of law-abiding Americans, law enforcement officers, and legal immigrants at risk: The rise of sanctuary cities. Sanctuary policies are an affront to the rule of law and our Constitution and they are contrary to every instinct that we have as law enforcement professionals. Elected officials who create sanctuary policies are ignoring the reality we’ve seen play out time and again. Sanctuary policies do not protect communities—they endanger them. All too often, criminal aliens are released into communities only to reoffend, requiring the men and women of ICE to needlessly risk their lives to track down these fugitives in neighborhoods or at workplaces instead of the security of a local jail.
“Tonight, President Trump sent a strong message to these leaders who play politics with public safety: If you will not protect your people, we will. DHS will soon announce measures to counter dangerous state and local laws that prohibit coordination with DHS law enforcement officers.”