With 'sanctuary cities,' Trump might be starting a fight he can't win

[struggle4progress]

Evan Halper and Melanie Mason


... The cities and counties Trump is targeting have many tools to strike back. Among the most potent are high court decisions that have interpreted financial threats like the one Trump is now making as an unlawful intrusion on state’s rights.

In California, elected officials are skeptical about how aggressively Trump’s vague executive order can be enforced. San Francisco has determined it is worded in such a way that it doesn’t even apply there, and other cities will probably argue the same.

Trump left unclear what funding is at stake and what cities and counties are threatened. The administration would be on shaky legal ground going after money allocated for anything other than law enforcement, and taking funds away from local police is a risky proposition for a new president promising to restore order in the streets. And even that, attorneys for the Legislature assert, takes an act of Congress ...

... John Sandweg, who headed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under Obama, said the massive cost of detaining all the people Trump is hoping to expel from the country would probably make Congress recoil ...

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-sanctuary-legal-battle-20170127-story.html

[PJMcK]

1. Incompetence

This is another example of the Trump Administration's ignorance and stupidity. They seem to think that the Executive Branch is all-powerful. Their Executive Orders are probably unenforceable as they don't understand how the government works.

As for Mr. Trump's alleged brilliance in business, his first week in office has been a complete hash of disorganization. This is the same incompetence we saw with his transition.

If this weren't so frightening, it would be fascinating.