Posted January 24, 2018 | by KimS | in DemDaily, Resource, Trump Administration

DemDaily: Mayors Meet Amidst Mayhem

January 24, 2018

The nation's mayors have descended on our capitol city for their annual Winter meeting to discuss a united voice on issues from the economy, education and energy, to healthcare, jobs and immigration.

At the top of that list: Sanctuary Cities.

The United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) is the official non-partisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are 1,408 such cities in the country today. Each city is represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the mayor.

Although a non-partisan organization, Mayors of both parties overwhelmingly oppose Trump's immigration policies, and his attempts to crack down on "sanctuary cities" that appear to harbor undocumented or "illegal" immigrants as residents.

While Americans look to Washington and see chaos and dysfunction reigning across our country, cities in urban, suburban, and rural communities are thriving and remain our greatest laboratory for economic growth, innovative public policy, and results-oriented government. - USCM Website

Although the administration has threatened repeatedly to cut federal funding from local governments that don't comply with the new immigration laws, the courts have blocked the Department of Justice (DOJ) from doing so.

AG Jeff Sessions: "Protecting criminal aliens from federal immigration authorities defies common sense and undermines the rule of law."

The Conference of Mayors meeting comes on the heals of last week's congressional budget showdown on immigration reform, which ended in the three-day government shutdown.

In a message of defiance to the mayors on day one of their conference, the US Justice Department sent letters to 23 "sanctuary cities" asking for greater compliance with federal immigration law, and threatening to subpoena jurisdictions that restrict "information sharing by law enforcement officers with federal immigration authorities."

A bi-partisan group of mayors, scheduled to meet with President Trump at the White House today, immediately announced their boycott of the meeting.

"Many mayors of both parties were looking forward to visiting the White House today to speak about infrastructure and other issues of pressing importance to the 82 percent of Americans who call cities home. Unfortunately, the Trump administration's decision to threaten mayors and demonize immigrants yet again - and use cities as political props in the process - has made this meeting untenable.

-- USCM President and New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu (D)

Other USCM leadership includes Vice President Stephen Benjamin (D- Columbia, SC), Second Vice President Bryan Barnett (R-Rochester Hill, MI) and CEO & Ececutive Director Tom Cochran.

Follow developments over the next two days of their 86th Winter Meeting.