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The Conversation
The Conversation
Benjamin Gonzalez O'Brien, Associate Professor of Political Science, San Diego State University

Trump wants to cut funding to sanctuary cities and towns – but they don’t actually violate federal law

While sanctuary policies for immigrants have grown in the U.S. since the 1980s, the Trump administration is the first to challenge them. Marcos Silva/iStock/Getty Images Plus

San Francisco, Chicago and New York are among the major cities – as well as more than 200 small towns and counties and a dozen states – that over the past 40 years have adopted what is often known as sanctuary policies.

There is not a single definition of a sanctuary policy. But it often involves local authorities not asking about a resident’s immigration status, or not sharing that personal information with federal immigration authorities.

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