ICYMI: Trump's Sanctuary City Crackdown a 'Direct Attack' on Boston: Mayor

BOSTON, MA – President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a promised executive order cracking down on sanctuary cities across the country, putting Boston in line to lose unknown amounts of federal funding and setting Boston's mayor defiantly on the defensive.

"I will use all of my power within lawful means to protect all Boston residents -- even if that means using City Hall itself as a last resort," Walsh said, adding that undocumented immigrants could use City Hall as a shelter or his office as a place to sleep, if need be.

"Washington is advancing the most destructive and un-American threats made ... in this campaign," he said. "They are a direct attack on Boston's people, Boston's strength and Boston's values."

Walsh additionally promised the city will not "waste vital police resources on misguided federal actions" or be daunted by "threats on federal funding."

Details of the order are sparse to far, but it includes withholding federal funds to local governments except those mandated by law for law enforcement, according to the text of Trump's executive order.

The Boston Globe previously estimated that the city annually receives around $250 million in federal funding.

Walsh told reporters Wednesday he does not know how much Boston could lose under the order, but he is not worried about the number.

"I have no idea," he said. "They haven't been specific on any plans. I guess we'll find out."

The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts lauded Walsh's position, pledging to support him in defying what state Executive Director Carol Rose calls an "unpatriotic, wrongheaded, and unconstitutional executive order.”

Walsh, a proud son of Irish immigrants, broadly critiqued Trump's actions on sanctuary cities, as well as his proposed wall along the Mexican border, also given the go-ahead in an executive order Wednesday.

"Boston was there for me and my family, and for as long as I'm here, I will never turn my back on those seeking a better life," Walsh said.

The term "sanctuary city" refers to municipalities or counties that don't cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. That can include not notifying immigration officials if an undocumented immigrant will soon be released from custody, for example. Other cities has taken more extensive steps to protect immigrants.

Boston passed the Trust Act in 2014, lifting local officers' obligation to participate in the federal government's immigration detainment program. That program gives Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials the authority to ask local law enforcement to hold people in custody up to 48 hours, even if they post bail.

Problematically for local officials assessing the impact of Trump's order, the term does not have a hard and fast legal definition. In Massachusetts, whatever definition is put forth through Trump's executive action almost definitely includes self-described sanctuaries such as Cambridge and Somerville, and also sweeps Boston and other municipalities into the mix, as well.

The sanctuary cities-related order reinstates an Immigration and Customs Enforcement program known as Secure Communities, under which ICE would target undocumented immigrants.

The order also directs the State Department to take whatever steps necessary to make countries take undocumented immigrants back — including withholding visas to people from that country.

It also directs that federal funds be withheld from cities and counties that don't cooperate with immigration officials.

Sources tell Patch the most likely target of funding would be the various grants given to local governments through the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security.

The two departments administer billions in grants — many of which go to law enforcement agencies in the more than 300 cities and counties that have declared themselves sanctuary cities.

These range from Homeland Security's Urban Area Security Initiative, which helps cities prepare for acts of terrorism, to the Edward Byrne Grant Program, which was named for a New York City Police Officer killed in the line of duty and provides funding for a range of programs including crime victim assistance, drug patrols and drug treatment.

Alex Newman and Colin Miner, Patch staff, contributed to this report.

Image via Mayor Walsh Twitter