No Pandemic Bailout Money Should Go to Sanctuary Cities or States

In remarks to the press on Tuesday, President Donald Trump suggested for the first time that, when deciding which states and cities might be eligible for federal bailout money during the coronavirus recession, he might take sanctuary laws into account. Speaking to the media alongside Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump also echoed the concerns of Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who said it was unfair to put the nation’s taxpayers on the hook for states that were on the verge of bankruptcy long before the coronavirus came along.

“I think there’s a big difference with a state that lost money because of Covid and a state that’s been run very badly for 25 years,” the president said. “There’s a big difference, in my opinion. And you know, we’d have to talk about things like payroll tax cuts. We’d have to talk about things like sanctuary cities, as an example. I think sanctuary cities is something that has to be brought up where people who are criminals are protected, they are protected from prosecution. I think that has to be done. I think it’s one of the problems that the states have. I don’t even think they know they have a problem, but they have a big problem with the sanctuary situation.”

President Trump said that he’d talked over the concept of federal bailout money with the top Republicans in his administration and on Capitol Hill, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, McConnell, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. He said that it would be “unfair to other states” if mismanaged, Democrat-run states were to benefit from federal money while well-run, fiscally-responsible red states got nothing.

Acknowledging that his administration was willing to “talk about it,” however, Trump said: “But we’d want certain things also, including sanctuary city adjustments, because we have so many people in sanctuary cities, which I don’t even think are popular, even by radical left folks. What’s happening is people are being protected that shouldn’t be protected and a lot of bad things are happening with sanctuary cities.”

The president has been looking for ways to cut off federal funding to places like California, New York, and Chicago for years, angry that they have defied the administration by protecting felonious illegal immigrants from deportation. With these being the very cities and states looking for a bailout due to the crisis, this is the perfect time for Trump to lower the boom.

You want bailout money? It’s time for you to start cooperating with the federal government.

You want to keep protecting criminal aliens? Have fun in bankruptcy court.