Justice

Sanctuary Cities Are Safer and More Productive

New research contradicts President Trump’s claim that these areas do "immeasurable harm" to their residents.
Protesters wave flags in front of an effigy of Donald Trump in Los Angeles.Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced two executive orders to jumpstart his immigration agenda. In one of them, he asked “sanctuary cities”—jurisdictions that legally limit their local police from collaborating with federal immigration authorities—to stop doing so, or else, lose federal funds. Per the order:

The harm the order refers to is a decline in public safety. But that decline doesn’t appear to exist. To the contrary: Sanctuary cities show lower crime and higher economic well-being, a new analysis published by the Center for American Progress and the National Immigration Law Center shows.