Does Trump Have the Legal Authority to Send Illegal Immigrants to Sanctuary Cities?
16th April 2019
While funding remains an issue, former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Joe diGenova agreed with Judd’s assessment that the administration can resettle immigrants wherever they choose. He pointed to the refugee resettlement programs under the Obama administration, including a secret deal with Australia wherein refugees were reportedly taken in by Arizona, Texas, California, Oregon and New York.
Former Republican Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal claimed in 2015 that he was not informed that refugees were being resettled in his state as the Obama administration announced plans to take in another 10,000 Syrian refugees.
“Under the Obama administration these same groups of people with the same legal status were sent to cities and states secretly without notifying those states and cities through the Obama administration working with NGOs,” diGenova said. “And if the states tried to find out where they were being sent they were told, ‘you’re not allowed to know.’”
“That’s the precedent. They did it and they did it without telling people. At least the president is being honest about it,” diGenova added.