MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
For months, the Trump administration has been pressuring some states and cities led by Democrats to change their immigration policies. These are places that have adopted so-called sanctuary laws, which bar the use of local resources to support federal agents with immigration enforcement. The Justice Department says these policies run counter to the president's immigration crackdown and that legal action could be next. NPR political reporter Elena Moore is here to give us an update on this. Good morning, Elena.
ELENA MOORE, BYLINE: Good morning, Michel.
MARTIN: So it sounds like there's been an escalation between the Justice Department and these blue cities and states. What's happening here?
MOORE: Well, this all connects back to an executive order Trump signed in April, which asked federal agencies to identify jurisdictions that they say obstruct the enforcement of federal immigration laws. It also threatens possible federal funding cuts if changes aren't made. Fast-forward to the beginning of the month, the DOJ released a list of 13 states and 18 cities, all run by Democrats, saying they're standing in the way of immigration enforcement. Since then, Attorney General Pam Bondi has really put these places on notice.
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PAM BONDI: You better be abiding by our federal policies and with our federal law enforcement because if you aren't, we're going to come after you.
MARTIN: So how have state and local leaders responded to this?
MOORE: Well, we started to see some pretty forceful pushback this week from a handful of state and local leaders who disputed the sanctuary city label and defended their own policies, saying the administration's actions were unjust. One of the strongest rebukes, Michel, came from Boston's mayor, Michelle Wu, during a press conference on Tuesday.
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MICHELLE WU: Unlike the Trump administration, Boston follows the law, and Boston will not back down from who we are and what we stand for.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: We will not.
MOORE: And this came after the DOJ sent letters to Wu and other leaders demanding they change their policies, you know, giving a deadline of Tuesday. And while we're still waiting to see how all 30 jurisdictions on that list respond, we do know that some state leaders, like Washington's governor, Bob Ferguson, have vowed to defend their policies in court if needed.
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BOB FERGUSON: In the America that I love - have taught my children to revere, we resolve our differences peacefully through public discourse, and if necessary, through the courts.
MARTIN: So now the administration and some of these leaders are all saying that they're gearing up for possible legal action. How might this play out in the courts?
MOORE: Yeah. Well, I mean, pretty soon after Trump's return to office, his administration started taking legal action, and one of the first cases we saw was a lawsuit against Chicago. But the judge in that state threw out the suit, saying the government didn't demonstrate any violation of federal law. But that's not the only case in the works. You know, the DOJ is also suing New York City and Los Angeles using similar arguments. And on the other end, there are several dozen cities and counties across the country that have also signed on to a lawsuit challenging the administration's efforts to withhold federal funding over this issue.
MARTIN: And the administration is, I think people understand, making this part of a kind of a broader...
MOORE: Yeah.
MARTIN: ... Law and order message. You want to talk more about that?
MOORE: Yeah. Well, immigration, as we know, was a central issue in Trump's campaign, and he promised to carry out mass deportations if elected. So this effort by the DOJ is certainly one element of that big pledge. But more broadly, you know, Trump has made issues like crime and safety just big priorities. And that's once again meant picking fights with liberal cities. Just last week, you know, we saw that in Washington, D.C., where we are right now, when Trump deployed National Guard troops to the city and declared a safety crisis, all while signaling, Michel, that other cities could be next.
MARTIN: That is NPR political reporter Elena Moore. Elena, thank you.
MOORE: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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