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Santa Ana Councilmen Blast Trump's Vow To Cut Funds To Sanctuary Cities

SANTA ANA (CBSLA.com) — California has nearly 45 sanctuary cities, including Los Angeles and Santa Ana.

They have vowed to protect immigrants,more now than ever after President Donald Trump's vow to cut federal funding for special projects earmarked for sanctuary cities.

Santa Ana Councilman Sal Tinajero blasts the president's move.

"I think it's a slap in the face to the people of Santa Ana, quite frankly," he said.

The leaders of Santa Ana, Orange County's lone sanctuary city, promised Wednesday  to fight back.

"We stand by our promise, which is to protect our  community, stand by them and not allow the most vulnerable in our community to be targeted as the president is trying to do here," says Santa Ana Councilman David Benavides.

Santa Ana stands to lose millions in grants that historically have helped pay for new police officers, fund the city jail, and build things like the proposed park at Sixth Street and Lacey, drawn up for an empty lot and paid for with a federal grant monies that apparently now are in jeopardy.

"'That's messed up on his part. As president, he's supposed to do things to make people who live here safe and feel that they live in a safe place," said one woman.

If the money has already been received, no problem, says city leaders. It's future projects and needs they are worried about.

"I don't want everyone to start getting all antsy about this," said Tinajero. "This is going to be a process. And we here in the city of Santa Ana, like the other 200 sanctuary cities, are prepared to fight this in the court system. We're not going down without a fight. We're going to fight this all the way to the bitter end."

Councilmembers said it is unconstitutional to withhold funds and believe the courts will be on their side.

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