Trump admin to create list of 'sanctuary' states, cities, target services for illegal immigrants: report

President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order to create a nationwide list of sanctuary jurisdictions in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security. The order will also target laws that give illegal immigrants favorable treatment it the US. 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the order on Monday, saying, “President Trump will sign an Executive Order on Law and Order, and another Executive Order on sanctuary cities.”

The order directs the US Department of Justice and DHS to identify all cities and states that do not cooperate with the federal government on laws concerning immigration in the US within a month and to categorize them as "sanctuary jurisdictions,” the Wall Street Journal reported. 

Addressing the order later in the briefing, Leavitt said "the executive order the President will sign later this afternoon does direct the Attorney General and also Kristi Noem, our great Secretary of Homeland Security, to provide a list of sanctuary cities in which local officials are not complying with this federal order and are not complying with federal immigration laws. It's quite simple: obey the law, respect the law, and don't obstruct federal immigration officials and law enforcement officials when they are simply trying to remove public safety threats from our nation's communities. The American public [doesn't] want illegal alien criminals in their communities. They made that quite clear on November 5. And this administration is determined to enforce our nation's immigration laws."

In line with what Trump has said before, the list of locales, cities, and states could have federal funding pulled if they do not cooperate with federal immigration authorities. Additionally, the Trump White House will direct the DOJ to bring civil rights cases against the jurisdictions on the list that have laws favoring illegal immigrants over US citizens, the outlet reported. The order will also take aim at state laws that offer in-state tuition for illegal immigrants over US citizens from other states. There are at least 25 states that have adopted such practices.

The Trump administration has taken similar steps in recent weeks, but district court judges have been blocking the orders consistently. Last week, the White House moved to strip funding from 16 different jurisdictions for engaging in sanctuary practices, but it was blocked by US District Judge William H. Orrick.

"The Cities and Counties have demonstrated a likelihood of irreparable harm," Orrick said in the ruling. "The threat to withhold funding causes them irreparable injury in the form of budgetary uncertainty, deprivation of constitutional rights, and undermining trust between the Cities and Counties and the communities they serve."

As judges have moved to block the Trump administration on matters of illegal immigration, Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested after she allegedly aided an illegal immigrant evade ICE as he was in court for a pre-trial hearing on domestic violence.

Dugan has been charged with obstructing federal authorities as they attempted to carry out the arrest of the illegal immigrant in Wisconsin.