Trump Administration Toughens Policy Against Sanctuary Cities

The Trump administration on Tuesday strengthened its crackdown on so-called sanctuary cities, announcing a new policy that says local governments will lose some federal grants if they do not honor federal requests to detain illegal immigrants and allow immigration agents access to local jails, reports the Los Angeles Times .

The new policy, announced by the Department of Justice, will apply to all cities that get grants from the so-called Byrne Justice Assistance grant program, for which the administration has requested just over $380 million for the coming year.

Under the policy, cities will have to meet three conditions if they want the grants: honoring requests to hold detainees for at least 48 hours; allowing agents access to local and state jails, in order to pick up undocumented people who are being released; and compliance with a law that prohibits any jurisdictions from stopping the exchange of information about an individual's immigration status.