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Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham rebuked sanctuary cities as places that incentivize “massive fraud” and said President Donald Trump is working on a plan to eliminate sanctuary city policies.
Telling Fox News host Sean Hannity on Tuesday that he had talked to Trump, Graham said the president would be “reasonable” with Minneapolis leaders in attempts to quell anti-ICE unrest in the state but that he ultimately would not bend to sanctuary city policies.
“What Donald Trump is not going to do is avoid dealing with sanctuary city policy,” he said. “President Trump is working with me and others to introduce a bill to go to the floor of the United States Senate to end sanctuary city policy forever, to eliminate it.”
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“All the 12 states who are doing this will be punished if they don’t change,” Graham warned.
“You can never have law and order with sanctuary city policies.”
On Sunday, Trump called on Congress to pass legislation to “end” sanctuary jurisdiction policies in a Truth Social post.
His post came amid the White House’s tensions with Minnesota officials over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents’ confrontations with local agitators. On Jan. 24, Border Patrol agents fatally shot 37-year-old Alex Pretti, the second Minneapolis resident fatally shot by federal agents this year.
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Still, Pretti’s death seems to have prompted a reset in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown strategy in Minnesota. After much criticism following Pretti’s shooting, Trump reassigned Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino from Minneapolis and sent in “border czar” Tom Homan.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and President Trump both agreed they had a productive phone call Monday on the anti-ICE unrest. Homan arrived in Minnesota Tuesday and met with Walz and Frey separately.
Walz and Homan “agreed on the need for an ongoing dialogue and will continue working toward those goals,” according to Walz’s office.
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Cooperation between Trump administration officials and Democratic leaders in Minnesota marked a notable shift in tone following Homan’s arrival, but there are still rifts. As the Trump administration urged local officials to comply with ICE’s requests to detain illegal migrants, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he would not enforce federal immigration laws.
Lindsey Graham argued sanctuary city laws in 12 states will continue to be divisive and are the “source of the problem.”
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“It literally incentivizes more illegal immigration,” Graham told “Hannity.” “It’s a massive invitation to fraud, and it breaks down law and order. And what happened in Minnesota is a result of a state ignoring the law that’s there to help the people.”
Funding for the Department of Homeland Security is set to expire Jan. 30, as Senate Democrats push for I.C.E. reforms and spending cuts.