Trump Considers Sending Immigrant Detainees to 'Sanctuary Cities'

President Donald Trump says that he is "strongly looking at" the idea of transporting migrants to so-called "sanctuary cities" that don't cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

Trump told reporters at the White House Friday that if leaders of those districts and municipalities really want to open their arms to immigrants, "we can give them an unlimited supply."

He added, "They're always saying they have open arms. Let's see if they have open arms."

White House and Homeland Security officials said as recently as Friday morning that the sanctuary cities idea has been discussed, but quickly dismissed, after DHS lawyers voiced strong opposition to it.

Trump nonetheless revived it in a pair of tweets on Friday morning that took DHS officials by surprise.

The reversal, which appeared to catch officials at the Department of Homeland Security off guard, came as critics were blasting news that the White House had at least twice considered a plan to release detained immigrants into so-called sanctuary cities, using migrants as pawns to go after political opponents.

Sanctuary cities, like San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles, are jurisdictions where authorities don't work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to round up people living in the country illegally. They have long been a target of Trump and his supporters, who claim they flagrantly violate the nation's immigration laws and harbor dangerous criminals.

The idea of pressing immigration authorities to embrace the plan was discussed in November and then again in February as the Trump administration struggled with a surge of migrants at the border, according to three sources who spoke on condition of anonymity. Homeland Security and ICE lawyers quickly rejected the proposal and it was dropped on the grounds that it was complicated, too expensive and a misuse of funds, two of the sources said.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Deputy Director Matt Albence denies the White House pressured immigration officials to implement the idea.

The plan, which was first reported by the Washington Post, is one of many ideas considered by an increasingly frustrated White House in recent months as Trump has railed against the growing number of Central American migrant families crossing the southern border and is looking for new ways to increase leverage on congressional Democrats to change laws he insists are making the problem worse.

Officials say they are running out of options, and have proposed and recycled numerous ideas that have never come to fruition. Trump in recent weeks has discussed the idea of renewing his administration's controversial family separation policy.

ICE is tasked with arresting people living in the country illegally — including some who have been here for decades. Under the Trump administration, ICE has significantly stepped up arrests, including of people who have no U.S. criminal records.

The surge of migrant families arriving at the southern border has been taxing the system, forcing ICE to set free more than 125,000 people as they await court hearings — a practice Trump has derided as "catch and release." With immigrant processing and holding centers overwhelmed, the administration has also been busing people hundreds of miles inland and releasing them at Greyhound stations and churches in cities such as Albuquerque, San Antonio and Phoenix, because towns close to the border already have more than they can handle.

In response, some cities have banished ICE from jails where agents could easily pick up immigration violators. Police in most sanctuary cities rarely, if ever, disclose information about when suspected criminals in the U.S. illegally will be released from custody.

There were at least two versions of the sanctuary city plan that were considered, according to one of the people familiar with the effort. One would have moved people who had already been detained to places represented by Democratic opponents of the president, while the other would have transported migrants apprehended at the border directly to San Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and other sanctuary cities.

The Post reported that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's district in San Francisco was among the targets.

The idea is "just another notion that is unworthy of the president of the United States and disrespectful of the challenges we face," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat.

Democrats have said they will tackle immigration bills, possibly as soon as they return from their spring recess, and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has indicated an interest in working on the issue.

Leaders in Bay Area sanctuary cities quickly issued statements blasting Trump's idea.

“Like so many issues we are forced to talk about during this presidency, this isn’t a real idea or a real proposal, it’s just another scare tactic," San Francisco Mayor London Breed in a statement. "Yes, immigration is an important issue and we need legislative reform, but that’s not what this President is talking about. We are proud to be a Sanctuary City and to continue to put forward proposals to support our immigrant communities."

San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón noted that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than the U.S. born population, and that cities with sanctuary policies are overall safer and more economically productive than their counterparts.

"The fact that such a proposal is being peddled by the leader of the free world is an all-time low for American discourse, and it’s the clearest sign yet that the president fully intends to chart a path to reelection on the back of racist rhetoric and policies intended to divide us,” Gascón said.

Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin called the idea "outrageous and unethical."

"Rather than supporting a real pathway to citizenship for the millions of immigrants in this country, he is fanning the flames of division," he said.