The Trump administration is enjoying a significant win today, after a federal appeals court held that the president can legally withhold millions of dollars in taxpayer funding to states that allow sanctuary cities to harbor undocumented immigrants. These cities often refuse to work with federal immigration authorities, allowing illegal immigrants with ICE detainers to remain in the United States.

The Associated Press reported that the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City made the ruling Wednesday morning. The decision overturns a lower court decision that sided with sanctuary cities.

Previously, the Trump administration refused to release funding to seven states and New York City due to sanctuary city practices.

The report continued, “The states and city sued the U.S. government after the Justice Department announced in 2017 that it would withhold grant money from cities and states until they gave federal immigration authorities access to jails and provide advance notice when someone in the country illegally is about to be released. Before the change, cities and states seeking grant money were required only to show they were not preventing local law enforcement from communicating with federal authorities about the immigration status of people who were detained.”

A number of states and cities across the country refuse to inform federal authorities at ICE when illegal immigrant criminals are released onto U.S. soil from prison, thus allowing harm to more U.S. citizens. In Cook County, Illinois, more than 1,000 ICE detainers in 2019 were ignored. ICE has attempted to do their work despite states and cities refusing to comply; in March 2019, for example, the department arrested more than 20 illegal immigrants after they were released from New York-based prisons.

The AP reported, “In the past two years, federal appeals courts in Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco have ruled against the federal government by upholding lower-court injunctions placed on the enforcement of some or all of the challenged conditions.”

The 2nd Circuit, however, ruled that the U.S. attorney general has the authority to impose conditions on states receiving federal money. This is, without doubt, a major win for the Trump administration and its efforts to curb illegal immigration in the United States.

This piece originally appeared on Objectivist.co and is used by permission.

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